As the Diesel Emits: Volkswagen's Emission Cheat Was 'Open Secret' Says Volvo Exec

It came as a shock to many when Volkswagen admitted that it used illegal software to cheat emission tests with their diesel. But there was one group that wasn't surprised, automakers.

Kent Falck, a future product specialist at Volvo said a recent event that many automakers were very suspicious of Volkswagen's emission results with their TDI engines. Falck explained that many were puzzled as to how Volkswagen was able to achieve lower emissions despite using the same suppliers as other automakers.

“We have the same suppliers, we have Bosch, we have Denso, we are working with the same partners, so we know this technology doesn’t exist,” said Falck. “I have known that for seven years.”

“We sat in a room and reviewed all the facts, figures, whatever we have, with the specialists. (But) we can’t manage it, how are the others doing it? We don’t know.”

At first, Falck thought Volkswagen had some sort of proprietary technology to pull this off without resorting to such technologies such urea injection.

“There is always intellectual properties in the world ... there might be something out there in the technology ... that we are not allowed to buy because it’s owned by a supplier. We were wondering how (VW met strict US emissions targets) that’s for sure.”

But soon enough, Falck and other people at various automakers realized Volkswagen was going at it an illegal way.

Source: News.com.au