Quote:
Originally Posted by racprops
Forty I also fully believe our cars could get much better gas mileage. That they are rigged not to.
See Shell Opel as ONE proof of the possibility. |
How much do you know about the exact circumstances of the Shell mileage competitions? Those cars were completely optimized for "driving like an old man"--that's how they got such good mileage.
OBD-II is not there to limit the fuel economy of modern cars. It is only an electric bus standard, in place so that a standard device can be plugged in and read diagnostic information about the vehicle.
If the manufacturers could simply tweak the intake system and get 20% better fuel economy, you'd better believe they'd do it in a heartbeat! They'd get much better CAFE credit (which would allow them to build more high-profit SUVs) and they could hit hard on advertising MPGs. There is no such tweak--at least, not that still passes emissions.
That's the closest to what you're talking about that actually exists: Lean burn. It isn't used any more because it produces high emissions, particular nitrides of oxygen. For a while, the emissions standards were lax enough that they could be passed while running lean burn (usually with some fancy and expensive catalysts), but standards have been tightened and LB can no longer meet them.
But that's not a problem with OBD-II, that's a problem with lean burn.
-soD