Are Porsche vehicles “cheating” emissions testing too?

Will there ever be an end to the new developments in the worldwide Volkswagen Emissions Scandal – dubbed “dieselgate” – that continues to plague the German automotive giants?

With new developments appearing on an almost daily basis, we’re wondering if there ever will be!

New reports allege that Porsche – who are owned by VW – may also have equipped some of its gas models with an alleged “defeat device” which is not something that is particularly new to us anyway. If it’s found to be true though, the problems for VW are only going to get worse…

Are Porsche cheating too?

Some 18 months on from when the emissions scandal first erupted in the news, VW owned Porsche have allegedly been using a cheating device to evade emissions testing. A source close to Porsche told Germany’s Transport Ministry and Federal Motor Transport Authority that the company had used similar cheating software in some of its gas models.

Similar to the ones in the VW scandal, the devices allegedly implemented in the Porsche models allowed the vehicle to reduce carbon dioxide emissions when the vehicle was undergoing emissions testing. The report also details that the software works by tracking the movement of the vehicle’s steering wheel; if the steering wheel doesn’t move after a certain amount of time, the software can sense that the vehicle is being tested and reduce carbon dioxide emissions accordingly.

From what we know, this was a part of the software used in the so-called NOx “defeat device” as well.

Strikingly similar to the Audi CO2 allegations

This sounds strikingly similar to the alleged “defeat devices” that are reportedly being used in some Audi models. The German Newspaper BILD reported that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) said they had found Audi to be using devices that could monitor carbon dioxide emissions and reduce them accordingly through the steering wheel’s tracking device. Similar to the alleged “defeat device” in the Porsche models, if the steering wheel wasn’t turned, it would suggest that the vehicle was undergoing an emissions test. The CARB found that if the wheel was turned more than 15 degrees then that’d indicate it was being driven in ‘real-life’.

According to BILD, the alleged cheating software was discovered a few months ago in the summer. To date, CARB and Audi have yet to comment further on the report.

Denial of wrongdoing

Not surprisingly, Porsche has denied any wrongdoing. They do accept that there is software which tracks the movement of the steering wheel, but they maintain that it does not have any effect on emissions. They simply state that the software only improves performance and helps to calculate shift points.

The investigation continues..

As Porsche is owned by the VW Group, I wouldn’t be surprised if they did in fact use a similar so-called “defeat device”. However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves; nothing has been substantiated yet, and the investigation continues!

As always, we can but speculate at this stage…

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