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West Roxbury minister latest to sue Volkswagen over diesel fraud
By adamg on Fri, 10/09/2015 - 8:14am
Rev. Anne Bancroft of West Roxbury's Theodore Parker Church joined with three other Volkswagen owners this week to sue over the way their diesel cars only meet federal pollution-control regulations when they're being tested.
In a lawsuit filed in US District Court in Boston, the four say they never would have bought their cars had they known about the "defeat devices."
In their complaint - which features a photo of an original, non-diesel VW Bug - they seek to become lead plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the car maker. They'll have to get in line: Just in Boston, several other people have already filed similar lawsuits.
The complaint details what led Bancroft and the others to buy VWs:
In 2009, Bancroft purchased a 2009 model year Jetta Sportswagen ("Jetta") equipped with the 2.0 liter TDI clean diesel engine at a Massachusetts dealership based upon Volkswagen’s representations regarding the vehicle’s performance, gas mileage and low emissions - not knowing that the vehicle was equipped with the Defeat Device.
Bancroft purchased the Jetta because she was impressed by Volkswagen’s advertisements and representations regarding the TDI Engine’s combination of low emissions and high gas mileage. She knew she was paying a premium for the Jetta over and above what she would pay for a similar vehicle with a gasoline engine, but did so because she wanted to own an environmentally-friendly automobile.
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Comments
Hmmm
Unitarian ministers must get paid pretty well.
Jetta TDI
Standard transmission, wagon, purchased end of year clearance: $23K
If you buy at the right time and get the clearance model year, there are deals to be had.
Good Luck
OK, so you live in Boston, America's "Walking" city, a place with good public transportation*, hubway bikes, Uber, the home of Zipcar. Yet somehow you thought owning this car was the environmentally responsible thing to do? (!)
I don't blame her for suing and I do wish her the best of luck. I hope VW looses so much cash it's a warning to others not to pull the same shit. But to somehow suggest that owning any car is "environmentally-friendly" -- particularly in Boston -- is idiotic.
* The T sucks but it's better then no public transport and still better then the public transit systems of most American cities (NYC, Chicago, BART, etc excluded.)
You might have missed the West Roxbury part
Yes, you can get downtown via public transit on a weekday. But we're not talking a "walkable" neighborhood here. Hubway? "What's that?" West Roxburyites would ask.
Sure
There are lots of good reasons to own a car but being environmentally responsible isn't one. If you honestly care about being "environmentally-friendly" you don't buy any car -- you suck it up and find other methods of getting around. It's not like she lives in Oklahoma.
WWJD?
What would Jesus drive?
Fiat 500?
Like the Pope rides in? Probably not a Toyota Hilux or Toyota Land Cruiser which seem to be the Official Vehicles of ISIS.
Ford F250...
...like the one ISIS has that was traded in by a Texas plumber.
PROTIP: When you trade in your truck, paint over the name and phone number:
http://www.insideedition.com/headlines/9435-how-a-texas-plumbers-truck-e...
A Honda Accord, of course!
John 12:49 (NIV) For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.
That's pretty critical
That's pretty critical for someone who has no idea what this person's transportation needs are. Not to mention that she's in W Rox, which is pretty burbish and a car is the norm.
Nope
I'm not saying she shouldn't own a car. I'm saying she shouldn't consider herself as being "environmentally friendly" because she bought a Jetta.
It would be like saying you're a strict vegetarian because you only eat a little meat every once in a while.
Bad Analogy, no biscuit.
"Strict vegetarian" is pretty much binary -- either you are or you aren't.
"Environmentally friendly," on the other hand allows for levels and degrees.
Switching from a 6,000 lb SUV to a small car, for example, while not perhaps as environmentally friendly as quitting driving altogether, is certainly a lot more environmentally friendly than sticking with the SUV.
Household cycling mileage per year: 8,000+ miles
Jetta Diesel mileage per year (three adults, four people of driving age): 7,500 miles a year.
Some people split the difference, using bikes for urban, driving for long distance. If we had proper Eurostyle intercity train service, we might not even own a car.
That's a simple reality of living in the United States.
Note that our typical fuel economy with this vehicle is about 43 mpg over the life of the car. I made a bet with a Prius V driver who was also doing college visits over April vacation that my Jetta TDI would use less fuel. I won that bet. That is about as green as you can get in the US with a car that is not a lead dump and comfortably transports 4 people.
Except that
If your diesel is one of those with the trick emissions software, Your 7500 miles may be putting out as much pollution as a properly-controlled car would in 300,000 miles. Not as green as I can get.
Type of pollution matters
Much lower CO2 than other vehicles - even lower when tricky.
NOx isn't all that important anyway. Not in the US where we don't live on top of highways much.
"Clean diesel" is to today
"Clean diesel" is to today what "more doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette brand" was to the 1950s.
Add in
'Clean Coal'
I suggest a closer reading
1. She was buying a car that was claiming to be more environmentally friendly than other cars she might buy.
2. I'm guessing that as a minister she needs a car to get out to visit her congregation. Good luck getting all over West Roxbury by bus. There are plenty of buses aimed at communing patterns and hours but not travel crisscrossing the Parkway area. And good luck getting to an evening meeting.
Depends on your definition of "friendly"
NOx is mostly a problem in city driving in densely populated areas and near road. It also has a complicated relationship with Ozone (in that it scavenges Ozone under some conditions, Ozone being rather more dangerous).
Meanwhile, the exceptional fuel economy means far less CO2 into the atmosphere. Particulate is trapped in a filter either way.
Outside of dense cities, that means that these vehicles are still environmentally friendly (since there isn't the near road population to be hostile to). Also, some localities have opposed the near-road monitoring programs for NOx because they know that lowering it would mean even worse Ozone problems.
So it ultimately depends on what "friendly" means.
Of course, the real issue is the extreme cheating.
As someone who has lived in
As someone who has lived in NYC, Chicago, SF and Boston, I would disagree strongly with your statement, "* The T sucks but it's better then no public transport and still better then the public transit systems of most American cities (NYC, Chicago, BART, etc excluded.)" The T is the worst of the worst, the bottom of the barrel as far as public transportation systems in major US cities. The T F'ing sucks and there is no getting around it.
Based on your comments, I'll
Based on your comments, I'll assume you live in the suburbs. Pro tip: West Roxbury is a neighborhood in Boston. It is not near downtown, nor does it have the public transportation infrastructre that other neighborhoods of Boston have. I suggest you visit West Roxbury to educate yourself before you form an opinion and before spouting angry rants against the minister.
Are You Trying To Sue-Deuce Me?
Wait for it.
Can Unitarians go to hell?
They may or may not believe in hell, so buying an environmentally incorrect vehicle doesn't mean she will suffer damages.
Consistency
This seems to be Rev. Bancroft's second environment-related interaction with the legal system this week. It looks like she was one of the people arrested at the West Roxbury pipeline protest:
http://www.wbur.org/2015/10/06/west-roxbury-pipeline-protest-arrests
Mmmm! KFC!
I like the SUV and the KFC in the background of the picture with that article. Very artistic shot.