[alistairSH]

I'm not sure that's an accurate description of VW's cheat.

VW knew the parameters of the test (stationary car, no steering input, prescribed throttle inputs, etc). And they configured the car to pass the test.

Water-heater engineer knew the parameters of the test (number and location of probes). And he configure the water-heater to pass the test.

Same-same. In both cases, an engineering team willfully committed fraud to improve their sales figures.

The only differences are a bit pedantic. VW's "configuration" was more elaborate. But, both groups gamed the test.

[amscanne]

You might misunderstand what VW did.

Apparently it is common for cars to have a "test mode" bit, because they run on a dyno (only one set of wheels spin), and the car may disable certain traction control systems, etc.

VW changed the way other systems (the engine itself) function in this mode. So even if everything is exactly the same on the road (e.g. 30mph in a straight line for hours), the car will perform differently and have different emissions. You don't drive around on a dyno.

Optimizing for the test may go up to the line, but VW crossed it.

[nwallin]

The differences are not pedantic at all. The differences are extremely significant.

The VW engineers designed the car to do different thing while being tested vs used by consumers. While being tested, the emissions system was on. While being used by consumers, the emission system was entirely disabled.

The water heater engineers designed the water heater to do the same thing while being tested vs used by consumers.

If the water heater engineers designed the water heater to never turn on and keep the water at room temperature while being tested, ("works good boss, water heater efficiency is infinity percent") then yes, it would be reasonable to claim they did essentially the same thing.

[esrauch]

> If the water heater engineers designed the water heater to never turn on and keep the water at room temperature while being tested

I think the difference between what they did and this is only a difference in degree and not kind though, right?

[titzer]

It is a difference in kind: VW dynamically detected and adapted behavior to the test. It would never operate in that way under normal conditions. The water heater example was completely static: it always behaved the same way, under test or not.

[esrauch]

People obviously disagree since I was downvoted but I don't really see the black-and-white difference between the two.

In both cases there was an intentional design change to deliberately changed mislead a measurement, and the final product does not match the intended thing. Both adversarially directly cause the consumer's purchase to not be the intended item; no one gets a car that has emissions measured and no one gets a heater that has the efficiency measured.

[Nasrudith]

One added difference is that the water heater. The intent may be deceptive but they provided what was asked for and what they claimed. It is almost malicious compliance. Dickish gaming and probably worth suing over but not sure if it is criminal fraud per se.

It is like the joke about Soviet factory metrics for some item like nails. They set the quota on numbers and got useless ones better described as needles. They wised up a bit and set the quota by weight next month and got one useless massive nail instead. It isn't even too far from the truth given actual management involved things like a train line circularly shipping coal between depots instead of retrieving from source or distributing to end users to boost their "metric tons transported kilometers" metric.

VW meanwhile had a covert illegal configuration while claiming mileage and lack of maintenancd urea. The claims are outright false - that it provides all three benefits instead of two of three.

[viraptor]

That kind of mentality was the joke in many eastern eu movies in the 80s. Pretty much the standard comedy in Polish movies from that time.

[kelnos]

It's not the same at all, and I don't think the differences are pedantic.

The water heater runs the same regardless of whether it's being tested or is running normally in someone's home. Really, this test "cheat" exposed that the test itself was not measuring what it thought it was measuring; and hell, a manufacturer could accidentally cheat with their design.

The car would run differently if it detected it was in a test situation. In the real world, with a real driver, it would run in a way that would give different test results (if you were in a position to run the test while it's being driven).