During a year-long investigation, researchers found code that allowed a car’s onboard computer to determine that the vehicle was undergoing an emissions test. If the conditions are met, the code directs the onboard computer to activate emissions curbing mechanism when those conditions were met. But in reality, the label became a euphemism for conditions occurring during an emissions test. That car’s onboard computer simply allows its emissions-curbing system to run for the first 26 minutes and 40 seconds after the engine starts– roughly the duration of many emissions tests. To curb emissions from these engines, the vehicle’s onboard computer must sometimes sacrifice performance or efficiency for compliance.