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VW reaches out to diesel consumers with new website

Volkswagen is starting to get details out to the public about its diesel emissions evasions in the US, and the automaker now has a dedicated website for consumers. The first thing that visitors see is an apology video from Volkswagen Group of America CEO Michael Horn. The site also details all of the VW TDI's currently known to be affected here, including the 2009-2015 Jetta, 2009-2014 Jetta SportWagen, 2010-2015 Golf, 2015 Golf SportWagen, 2012-2015 Beetle and Beetle convertible, and 2012-2015 Passat. Although, the Audi A3 should be on there, too. The company repeatedly reassures owners that these vehicles are safe to drive and promises it's developing a fix as quickly as possible to make them emissions compliant. On the site's FAQ, VW also clarifies that there's still a stop-sale on all of these models with the 2.0-liter TDI, including certified pre-owned ones. That could change soon because the automaker believes that the 2016 model year examples are legal, but the Environmental Protection Agency needs to sign off before they could go to dealers. Until the diesels can be sold, there also won't be any TDI advertising by VW. "We are working at full speed on a technical solution that we will present to partners, to our customers and to the public as swiftly as possible," Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen passenger car division, says in a statement. He also offers an improved accounting of the number of vehicles affected. VW had previously said that there were 11 million with the emissions evading software worldwide. According to Diess, around five million of these came from the VW brand. Audi has said there about 2.1 million of its models affected globally with between 13,000 and 14,000 in America. DR. HERBERT DIESS, CEO OF THE VOLKSWAGEN PASSENGER CARS BRAND, EXPLAINS: "WE ARE WORKING AT FULL SPEED ON A SOLUTION." Wolfsburg, September 25, 2015 – In the press release dated September 22, 2015, the Volkswagen Group announced that Volkswagen Group vehicles worldwide are affected by the current issues regarding emissions. The internal evaluation revealed that approximately five million Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand vehicles are affected worldwide. Certain models and model years of these vehicles (such as the sixth generation Volkswagen Golf, the seventh generation Volkswagen Passat and the first generation Volkswagen Tiguan) are equipped exclusively with type EA 189 diesel engines.

40+ cars that barely avoid the gas guzzler tax

The Gas Guzzler schedule, with mpg ratings and charges that haven't changed since 1991, lays out which fuel-swillers owe what to Uncle Sam.
I started thinking about the "Gas Guzzler Tax" - considerably less well known as The Energy Tax Act of 1978 - when I was driving Dodge's new Challenger SRT Hellcat last week. Unsurprisingly for a car that can burn 1.5 gallons of gas per minute at max tilt, theoretically able to empty a full tank of premium in about 13 minutes, the Hellcat will be subject to the Gas Guzzler Tax schedule when it goes on sale.

Audi pushing DOT to allow its sequential LED turn signals [w/videos]

Still in the process of trying to get its trick LED Matrix Beam headlights legalized in the US, Audi is now trying to get its front and rear sequential LED turn signals approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Just like its auto-dimming headlights, the sequentially illuminating turn signals don't meet NHTSA's Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108.
The problem, according to Automotive News, is that the individual lighting elements are too small to meet current US safety regulations. The rule states that each lamp should be 22 square centimeters (8.6 square inches) and the whole lighted combined area must be 50 square centimeters (19.6 square inches). In the individual sequence, Audi's lights are much smaller than that. As for the Ford Mustang, which has had sequential turn signals since 2010, this system is legal since the first lens is large enough to meet the required size, so the other two lights really aren't even necessary.
It sounds like it could be some time before we see these turn signals on Audis in the US, which is a shame because in addition to their styling bebefuts, we think they're more effective at signaling the vehicle's intended direction of travel, and they do a better job of grabbing the eye. Scroll down to watch a pair of videos showing the headlights in action on the redesigned A8/S8 as well as the recently updated R8.