The Volkswagen emissions scandal, otherwise known as Dieselgate, shocked the automotive world when it was revealed in September 2015. In order to get around diesel emissions standards, the German automaker installed “cheat” devices on approximately 11 million vehicles worldwide.
These devices would only activate during testing, leaving them to emit up to 40 times more emissions than they should in real-world driving.
The scandal not only severely hurt VW’s reputation, it also hurt their bottom line costing them more than $33 billion in fines, penalties, and other associated costs. The CEO at the time, Martin Winterkorn, also stepped down soon after the scandal was brought to light.
Even though current VW CEO Herbert Diess and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are on good terms, that seemingly hasn’t stopped Tesla from having a little fun at VW’s expense.
Everyone is very familiar with Tesla’s fart mode, but probably less so than by its official name – Emissions Testing Mode. In Germany, it goes by the same name, ‘Emissionsprüfmodus‘, or at least it used to.
In the latest holiday software update, Tesla changed the name to ‘Abgasskandal‘, or “Emissions Scandal” in English.
If you though playing fart sounds inside your car was fun, Tesla also added a new Boombox feature in the holiday update. For cars equipped with the Pedestrian Warning System (PWS), you can now use the external speaker to fart at people walking by on the street. Making a regulatory requirement even more enjoyable, you can also add your own custom sounds to play while honking the horn, driving, or when using Summon.
