Volkswagen response reveals morals

Diesel’s obituary has been written before: Rudolf’s, when he vanished 102 years ago; but also that of his engine in the U.S., when a disastrous experiment by Oldsmobile in the 1970s inoculated the public against the fuel. Regardless, it seems extremely probable that cheating of this magnitude wouldn’t be committed if the diesel mass-market vehicles involved could have been produced to meet emissions standards without sacrificing target fuel efficiency, performance, other customer-appeal factors, and/or VW’s desired profit margin.

Roughly 11 million vehicles have been affected by Volkswagen’s emissions scandal, leaving more questions than answers.

And VW’s own technicians flagged the issue for the automaker’s board in 2011, they said. Then maybe the EPA will determine if they have to do the fix or not.

It’s estimated that VW’s dubious diesels were responsible for as much as 1 million additional tons of nitrogen oxide being pumped into the atmosphere worldwide. “You feel duped”. “LEAN BURN ” The Energy Policy Act of 2005, signed by Bush, expanded a green vehicle tax break to include so-called “lean burn” vehicles like certain diesels for the first time.The concession represented the culmination of a years-long effort to rehabilitate the reputation of diesel-powered cars. “It was this dramatic visual effect created to persuade people who have negative views about diesel cars”. He acquired a 2009 Jetta TDI in July, fixed it up and listed it on Craigslist for $8,499.

The problem is, while the transgressions of GM and VW look similar, they’re different in one significant way.

“Officials at Volkswagen should be granted no get out of jail free card, and the Department should accept no plea agreement with Volkswagen that does not ensure any and all information regarding criminal acts by high level officials is provided to the Department”, wrote Blumenthal and Klobuchar.

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Volkswagen has set up a website, vwdieselinfo.com, which leads with communication from Volkswagen Group of America CEO Michael Horn, both in video and text format.

“When we have a remedy in place, customers will be notified”, he says. The FAQ page detailing affected models, defeat devices, sales, safety of vehicles and how owners should proceed lines up with the current reports circulating around VW, so the company hasn’t backed out of any of its promises yet.

Fair, perhaps, but highly unlikely. Now, the company that famously introduced the original Beetle as a “Lemon” and urged consumers to “Think Small” faces a public relations crisis, and a major challenge to restore its image.

What customers likely will have to settle for is a few modest compensation and an auto that, after the cheat code is removed, probably has less power and worse mileage than the one they bought.

“We got an email very late on Friday the 18th stating that Volkswagen had lost their certification for the 2016 two-liter TDI models”.