US charges Volkswagen engineer in diesel emissions probe
A Volkswagen AG engineer indicted by a grand jury pleaded guilty Friday to a criminal charge for his involvement in the German automaker’s diesel emissions scandal.
The indictment marked the first time a criminal charge had been levied in the US Justice Department’s year-long investigation into emissions-cheating software VW installed in some 11 million vehicles worldwide.
The investigation into diesel emissions test cheating by Volkswagen has taken a significant turn with the guilty plea entered by a VW engineer in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
Liang is facing a maximum penalty of five years in jail, while Volkswagen is facing down a multi-billion-dollar settlement with the government, its dealerships, and owners of affected vehicles. In September 2015, Volkswagen admitted to installing the “defeat device” on almost a half-million vehicles with 2.0-liter diesel engines.
His job title in the United States was “Leader of Diesel Competence”, although he still reported to VW officials in Germany.
The software, mentioned in Liang’s plea, tricked lab tests to show the cars had passable emission levels, when in reality, the vehicles would emit up to 40 times the legal limit of pollutants.
The U.S. Justice Department sued Volkswagen in early January 2016 for cheating on emission standards tests. Ouch. The automaker is also on the hook for $2.7 billion in environmental mitigation and $2 billion for research on zero-emissions vehicles.
Liang admits in 2006 he, along with co-conspirators, started to design a new diesel engine for sale in the United States.
The software – referred to in court documents as a “defeat device” – recognizes when a vehicle is undergoing standard USA emissions testing on a dynamometer and turns on equipment that brings emissions into legal limits.
At about the same time as VW’s admission of guilt previous year, the Justice Department implemented a policy that requires that any corporate investigation that results in a charge against the company also include a plan to charge individuals.
The indictment says Liang worked as a diesel development engineer in Wolfsburg, Germany form 1983 to 2008, where he played a big role in developing the AE 189 2.0-liter diesel engine, an engine that was expected was to pass strict US emissions regulations. Investigators uncovered internal company emails that show Liang and other VW engineers exchanged ideas about how to “effectively calibrate the defeat device” so that the cars would recognize when they were undergoing US emissions testing. FOX 2’s Dave Spencer was in court and will have the full breakdown of the plea agreement on FOX 2 News beginning at 5 p.m.
The engineer said he was also involved in a 2014 recall by VW that meant to update the cars’ software and cover up the scheme.
The plea agreement provides that he will cooperate with the government in its ongoing investigation. The company already has agreed to settlements that may total $16.5 billion to get 482,000 emissions-cheating diesel cars off USA roads.
“These events should serve as a warning to all companies to make sure they are operating on the up-and-up, because the feds are showing no mercy”, Krebs went on to say. Higher-ranking VW officials will face increasing pressure, according to the Automotive News story.