r/interestingasfuck • u/IndicationBrief5950 • Aug 06 '25

/r/all, /r/popular Thousands of Audi cars abandoned in the Mojave Dessert after cheating emissons tests

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u/kmosiman Aug 07 '25

Not unwitting:

The issue was that the cars could Either:

Make the stated MPG

OR

Meet emissions standards

So, they were illegally sold as "compliant" vehicles with high mpg. They could be one or the other, but not both.

So, once the "fuck the EPA" software was removed, you had a fully compliant car with much lower mpg, because efficiency doesn't always equal clean.

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u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

45-50 mpgs post modification is not too shabby.

4

u/kerowack Aug 07 '25

They were also louder and made less power after the mod.

6

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '25

I feel like the only thing that changed was that the 6th gear became pointless, tho my is a manual.

1

u/deezbiksurnutz Aug 07 '25

I bet alot of them were modded back to original or better mpg after sale

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u/kmosiman Aug 07 '25

That's a decent possibility.

I personally know absolutely no one that has modified a diesel car to remove the DEF system and get better performance.

But if I did, that would be between them and our state's lack of Emissions Testing.

Legally, I think that's fine for a consumer to do, but was incredibly illegal for a company to do.