What's the news?
Volkswagen has announced what it's going to be doing to fix its emissions-cheating 1.6 diesel engines in Europe and the solution is a much smaller one than what we'd been imagining. It will actually simply consist of a small mesh screen, to be placed in front of the engine's air mass sensor. According to Volkswagen, the device is called a 'flow transformer' and it will be "fitted directly in front of the air mass sensor on the 1.6-litre EA 189 engine. This is a mesh that calms the swirled air flow in front of the air mass sensor and will thus decisively improve the measuring accuracy of the air mass sensor. The air mass sensor determines the current air mass throughput, which is a very important parameter for the engine management for an optimum combustion process. In addition, a software update will be performed on this engine. The time needed for the implementation of the technical measures is expected to be less than one hour."
Volkswagen is also saying that the 2.0-litre and 1.2-litre EA189 engines will only need a software update, and that all the changes are designed to cause no change to engine performance, consumption or emissions.
Volkswagen is putting the simplicity of the solution down to the fact that it is now able to create much more complex engine management systems and can more clearly digitally model the movement of air in and around the engine thanks to advances in engine design technology since the EA189 family was first designed.
The proposed fix has been forwarded to the German Federal Motor Transport Authority for approval, and Volkswagen is still hoping to kick off its recall in January. If the small fix is approved, it could be significantly cheaper to carry out than Volkswagen had been expecting.
However, it probably won't be sufficient in the US market where emissions standards are much stricter than in Europe. It's expected that Volkswagen will have to make major mechanical modifications to many of its diesel engines there. It's also no help in the emerging scandal involving Volkswagens' over-estimating the fuel consumption and emissions of many of its models.