Check out how Consumer Reports performed its own trick on the cars designed for trickery.
DETROIT, MI - The Volkswagen cars affected by software devices the German company used to trick emissions test are slightly slower and less fuel efficient when they're driven in "cheat mode," Consumer Reports has found.
Cheat mode refers to how the cars react when they are on a dynamometer for emissions tests.
Check out how Consumer Reports performed its own trick on the cars designed for trickery:
The testers duped the wheel sensors in to thinking the car wasn't driving. They then found that 2015 models' acceleration was about the same, going 0-60 mph in 9.1 seconds in regular drive mode and 9.2 seconds in cheat mode, while older model VWs' acceleration slowed from 9.9 seconds to 10.5 seconds.
The 2015 VWs' fuel economy slipped from 53 to 50 mpg in the tests, while older models' fuel efficiency went from 50 to 46 mpg.
"While overall extra annual fuel cost may not be dramatic, these cars may no longer stand out among many very efficient competitors," Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports' auto test director, says in the video.
Volkswagen has admitted to the EPA that it used software to trick emissions tests in 11 million of its diesel cars from the 2009-2015 model years globally, including 482,000 the U.S.
The EPA and the California Air Resources Board uncovered "defeat device" software in the Volkswagen cars after independent analysis at West Virginia University raised questions about the cars' emissions levels.
The Volkswagen cars in question meet emissions standards tests in a laboratory or testing station, but in normal operation, they emit nitrogen oxides at up to 40 times the standard, according to the EPA.
On Thursday the company's top executive in the U.S. Michael Horn was on Capitol Hill, where he apologized to lawmakers for the scandal on behalf of the company, but said he too felt deceived.
Horn said the German company's executive board did not know that an apparent group of rogue engineers developed the cheating software.
"To my understanding this was not a corporate decision, this was something individuals did," Horn said at a House subcommittee hearing.
The Germany automaker now faces multiple criminal probes, lawsuits and fines.
David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com, follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook.