Shutdown device

This article or section needs to be revised. Details should be given on the talk page. Please help to improve it , and then remove this flag.

In technology, a shutdown device generally refers to a system with which devices, systems or system parts can be switched off remotely or automatically. For example, it is used in photovoltaic systems to protect firefighters from dangerous currents in the event of a fire. Their use in the exhaust gas cleaning of internal combustion engines became known to the general public as a result of the VW exhaust scandal .

Disconnection devices in the emission control of vehicles

Exhaust gas cleaning systems are used in motor vehicles with internal combustion engines in order to reduce the emission of harmful substances in the exhaust gases. These are equipped with cut-off devices which, under certain operating conditions, disable parts of the exhaust gas purification system in order to maintain safe operation under these conditions while accepting increased exhaust gas values. Such shutdown devices consist of a combination of measuring devices and actuators that intervene in the vehicle's emissions control system.

If the defeat device is programmed in such a way that the "effectiveness of the emission control system is reduced under conditions that can reasonably be expected in normal vehicle operation", it is fundamentally not permitted in the EU (so-called cheat software). The same applies to the USA. The only exceptions are to protect the engine from damage, when starting the engine and under conditions that are essentially contained in the specified test procedure.

A systematic violation of this ban on defeat devices formed the basis of the VW emissions scandal in 2015 . Such technology has been in use since at least 1973 and also affected other vehicle manufacturers such as Chrysler, General Motors, Toyota, Cadillac, Honda and BMW. and also truck manufacturers.

It is difficult to distinguish between an impermissible disconnection device, which is deactivated depending on the detection of a driving cycle, from a disconnection device for protecting the engine and components. If it is closely linked to the conditions of the driving cycle (ambient temperature, distance / speed-time curve, steering angle), the suspicion that it is the former is likely. Since 2016, the types and conditions for different approaches to exhaust gas behavior (so-called base emission strategy (BES) and auxiliary emission strategy (AES)) must be disclosed to the licensing authority in the EU. With the introduction of the verification of emissions during practical driving in the EU, a tailoring to the exact conditions of the driving cycle is made much more difficult.

literature

• Kai Borgeest: manipulation of exhaust gas values. 1st edition. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 2017, ISBN 978-3-658-17180-3
• Reinhard Kolke: Cycle beating: How are OEM's optimizing the vehicle to test cycles? Who does what in the homologation process? (PDF) ADAC Technology Center
• Kai Biermann, Karsten Polke-Majewksi: Manipulation in the emission test: Why the VW cheat software has not been discovered for so long. In: golem.de . September 24, 2015, accessed September 24, 2015 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Art. 3 No. 10 of Regulation (EC) No. 715/2007 (PDF) of June 20, 2007.
2. ↑ Art. 5 Paragraph 2 of Regulation (EC) No. 715/2007 of June 20, 2007.
3. ↑ autoweek.com
4. ↑ autoweek.com ( Memento of the original from December 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ epa.gov (PDF)
6. ↑ tagesspiegel.de
7. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated December 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ Ingmar Lippert: Environment - »Version 2b«: Programming wrong ecological decisions and the basis for a new environmental policy . In: Leviathan . 44, No. 3, September, pp. 399-427. doi : 10.5771 / 0340-0425-2016-3-399 .
9. ^ Tribune wire reports: VW just the latest in long history of cheating car companies. Retrieved April 22, 2019 (American English). 
10. ↑ Lukas Bay: Diesel Fraud: The dirt behind the thermal window. Retrieved April 22, 2019 . 
11. Jump up ↑ Moritz Contag, Guo Liy, Andre Pawlowski, Felix Domke, Kirill Levchenkoy, Thorsten Holz, Stefan Savage: How They Did It: An Analysis of Emission Defeat Devices in ModernAutomobiles. (PDF) In: IEEE Security & Privacy 2017, San Jose. May 22, 2017, accessed April 22, 2019 . 
12. ↑ FOCUS Online: You will not believe how simple the cheat trick from VW worked - video. Retrieved April 22, 2019 . 
13. ↑ Federal Government: Measures taken by the Federal Government to ensure the long-term conformity of type-approved cars that are in operation in Germany. (PDF) July 7, 2016, accessed April 22, 2019 .