14 DAY TRIAL // Last Friday, the US Environmental Protection Agency published a report accusing Volkswagen of cheating on air pollution tests and, consequently, being in violation of the country's Clean Air Act.
Over the next few days, things only went downhill. Right about now, the automotive manufacturer is in deep, deep trouble. Karma, right?
How it all started
In its September 18 report, the US Environmental Protection Agency accuses Volkswagen of selling rigged cars. The vehicles, about 500,000 of them, had special software installed so that they would only limit the pollution they produced when being tested for emissions.
When not under scrutiny, they would go around spewing out all sorts of toxic compounds, a clear violation of the country's Clean Air Act and a threat to public health.
Basically, what Volkswagen did was sell cars designed to seem eco-friendly when subjected to air pollution tests but that, when left to their own devices, would cough out harmful compounds. Of these compounds, nitrogen oxides were produced at up to 40 times the standard.
Health officials say nitrogen oxides pollution correlates with increased asthma risk and many other respiratory illnesses, even cardiovascular complications and premature death. Children, the elderly and people with preexisting conditions are the ones most vulnerable.
It was in 2009 that Volkswagen started selling such cars to customers in the US. By the time authorities caught up to what was happening, sales had reached nearly 500,000.
Now, the US Department of Justice is considering pressing criminal charges against the automaker. As for the Environmental Protection Agency, it's contemplating fines amounting to $18 billion (over €16 billion). So, yes, Volkswagen is looking at a long stay in the doghouse.
The plot thickens
As noted, the US Environmental Protection Agency's report counted about 500,000 cars rigged to seem more environmentally friendly than they really were. Except it wasn't just these four-wheelers that Volkswagen messed with.
In a statement issued this Tuesday, the automaker confesses that the software designed to cheat air pollution tests wasn't installed just in vehicles sold in the US. It was also installed in many other cars sold all across the world, about 11 million of them.
“The relevant engine management software is also installed in other Volkswagen Group vehicles with diesel engines. For the majority of these engines the software does not have any effect,” the car maker writes in the statement.
“Discrepancies relate to vehicles with Type EA 189 engines, involving some eleven million vehicles worldwide. A noticeable deviation between bench test results and actual road use was established solely for this type of engine,” Volkswagen goes on to detail.
The company has so far set aside €6.5 billion ($7.2 billion) to deal with this conundrum. Judging by how things are going, however, odds are it will have to dig deeper in its pockets. Apart from paying fines, it will also have to fix the rigged cars.
Volkswagen hasn't yet made any comments on why it got into the habit of manufacturing and selling cars designed to cheat on air pollution tests to begin with, but word has it this happened because it wanted to achieve the perfect balance between performance and eco-friendliness.
Diesel engines are quite efficient and so make for great performance. The problem is they also produce loads of nitrogen oxides. What Volkswagen did was build engines designed to deliver great mileage and lied that they were also environmentally friendly.
But hey, at least they're sorry
Sure, Volkswagen messed up. Really, really bad. Then again, if it's any consolation, they're also really, really sorry about it. Oh, and they're willing to do anything to be forgiven.
“We do not and will not tolerate violations of any kind of our internal rules or of the law. The trust of our customers and the public is and continues to be our most important asset,” Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen AG, said in a statement.
“We at Volkswagen will do everything that must be done in order to re-establish the trust that so many people have placed in us, and we will do everything necessary in order to reverse the damage this has caused,” he added.