WVU’s VW exposer named #2 mind in auto industry

Motor Trend named Arvind Thiruvengadam Padmavathy, on the WVU research team that uncovered Volkswagen’s cheating on emissions testing, the No. 2 mind in the auto industry. No. 1 was Thomas Doll, the president of Subaru of America.

Daniel Carder, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and interim director of the Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions at West Virginia University, was both a major player and the one usually interviewed by the media about their astounding findings that VW set up its cars’ computers so that it reduced emissions during testing, then spit the crap out 40 times the safe levels once the cars got on the road again.

The WVU team exposed Volkswagen by testing the VWs while driving them on the West Coast and then while they were in the shops, discovering the startling and criminal difference.

VW CEO Martin Winterkorn  resigned. The head of Porsche -- Matthias Mueller -- was promoted to the top job at Volkswagen.

VW set aside $7.3 billion for pay off claims tied to the cheating.

VW got away with it for seven years. Till WVU’s guys entered the picture and smoked out VW’s chicanery.

Padmavathy graduated from the University of Madras in India, then WVU, both in mechanical engineering. He joined the WVU faculty in 2012.