jimenato

Worth reading this WRT those photographs...

snopes.com: Where the World's Unsold Cars Go to Die

I have lived within spitting distance of Avonmouth docks most of my life and there are always tens of thousands of cars parked there. Nothing very sinister about it.

Dick Dasterdly

I wonder at what point in time they no longer try to sell the unsold ones which have ended up stockpiled ?
Three or Four years or more, or only when they become obsolete ?

Until fairly recently there must have been a lot of punters buying what they believed to be new cars, which had in reality been stockpiled for several years.

Longlegpete

Indeed, this has been the case for year's, a very big ford dealer near me in the UK has a stock of cars that sit there for up to 2 years in a area resembling a field covered in crushed concrete and fenced off opposite there main showrooms, apparently they are covered in some kind of wax/oil mix to preserve them, they are then taken and prepared as and when sold.

I guess this is whey you sometimes get 2013/2014 spec cars pre reg in 2015 and at a bargain price

Fredbargate

They would be welcome in Africa or South America.

Dick Dasterdly

No doubt they would, but the manufacturers are clearly aware that they are better of scrapping them than passing them on at knockdown prices and destroying their market for newer models.

johnnyone

I may be wrong but recall reading some where that the best way to check the date of assembly of a "new" car is to look at the date mark on the underside of the ashtray.

Fred James

Ashtrays are an optional extra now - the date should be in the service book.

Longlegpete

It's normal on the VIN plate, its often in code but just looking for your make on the Internet will normally make you able to check the date, these days spec often change each year so that's also a give away with regards to date

Longlegpete

BMW owner Fred !,

Fred James

Even BMW are charging £25 for the "smokers Package" on the 3 series!

wilsman77

Okay quick update:
1. It's not 11M vehicles affected it's only 5M
2. Of the 5M a very high proportion did not even have the software switched on!
2. Of the remaining problem cars all 1.6 and 2.0 diesels have an easy fix i.e. ECU remap or jets replaced.
The End.

Longlegpete

Blimey, I thought you were joking, we live and learn !

Longlegpete

As i understand it there was never a switch on or off version, the ECU would decide when to switch on and off from its "cheating " mode whenever it decided it was on test, this was when certain sensor's were removed as is normal in the testing process, i may have this wrong and if so i bow to your greater knowledge but i thought that was the principal

Fred James

Where did you get that from?

It sounds logical as the problem was only in the US where the limits are really low and all engines would struggle to meet them.

It may have been more convenient to put the software in all the engines, but it only had a significant effect on the US spec vehicles. Also, the test procedures are different, so maybe it only activated when it was doing the US test.

There is an interesting article here

Exclusive: Car makers 'can't meet' Euro6 emissions targets | Auto Express

InVinoVeritas

You can check if your Seat is one of those affected here:-

Check Your Car

Apparently mine is not involved.