Volkswagen CEO admits to cheating consumers and the environment
Volkswagen admitted to intentionally cheating the Environmental Protection Agency鈥檚 Clean Air Act standards in over 500,000 of their diesel-powered cars.
The German automaker installed what EPA calls a 鈥渄efeat device,鈥� a software that masks the car鈥檚 true emissions during testing. The cars in question 鈥渃ontained software that turns off emissions controls when driving normally when the car is undergoing an emissions test,鈥� Cynthia Giles, Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, explained to Reuters.
鈥淯sing a defeat device in cars to evade clean air standards is illegal and a threat to public health,鈥� Giles said in a press release by the EPA.聽 鈥溾�PA is committed to making sure that all automakers play by the same rules.聽聽these very serious matters.鈥�
When one of the cars-in-question is on the road, it emits as much as 40 times the level of pollutants allowed under The Clean Air Act.
鈥淸Volkswagen] was cheating not just car buyers but the ,鈥� said Frank O鈥橠onnell, director of Clean Air Watch.
California has issued a separate violation to Volkswagen and plans to work alongside the EPA and Justice Department for further investigation.聽The probe should not take long, investigators say, because the company has already admitted that this isn鈥檛 simply an oversight. 鈥淲e have admitted to it鈥�,鈥� a spokesman for Volkswagen said Sunday.
What鈥檚 next for Volkswagen drivers and dealers?
EPA officials say that owners of affected vehicles should expect recall notices within the next year. The recall includes almost 482,000 diesel Volkswagens sold in the US since 2009, including the Jetta, Beetle, Passat and Audi A3 models.聽聽
As for Volkswagen, the Justice Department could fine the automaker $37,500 for each recalled vehicle, for a possible total penalty of .
鈥� that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public,鈥� Martin Winkerhorn, the CEO of Volkswagen, said in a press release Sunday. 鈥淲e do not and will not tolerate violations of any kind of our internal rules or of the law,鈥� adding that the company was fully cooperating with federal agencies.
But a simple apology might not be enough.
鈥淭hey appear to have designed a system with the intention to mislead consumers and the government. If that鈥檚 proven true, it鈥檚 remarkable and outrageous. It would merit a heck a lot more than just a recall and a fine. We would see ,鈥� Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program at Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, told the New York Times.
Tuning diesel engines to meet pollution regulations can be expensive and time-intensive, and pollution-controls usually decrease performance. "When the pollution controls are functioning on these vehicles, between performance and emissions," explained Drew Kodjak, executive director of the International Council on Clean Transportation.
VW聽sales fell 2.8 percent this year, while industrywide sales rose 3.8 percent.聽
In an effort to improve US sales,聽the German automaker聽聽of their cars as a 鈥渃lean, fuel efficient and powerful鈥� diesel option. The company has struggled to stay competitive in the world鈥檚 second-biggest car market, but recently seemed to find their footing by marketing 鈥渃lean diesel鈥� vehicles.
鈥淭his is one of the companies that鈥檚 been trying to get Americans to buy diesels,鈥� Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign a Washington-based environmental group, told Bloomberg. 鈥� in a significant way on diesel. They assumed the EPA would never catch them at it, and that was a huge risk.鈥�
