VW Clean diesels.... how did they get them so clean?

[sseelhoff]

Winterkorn appears to be a "hands on" manager.




Steve

Not anymore. He just resigned.

Martin Winterkorn resigns as Volkswagen CEO

 

[IslandTractor]

It's illegal here, too. That's part of VW's problem. The possibility of jail time is real. DOJ is targeting white collar criminals (except financial industry). This will ramp up their efforts.

Wish we could have a redo on the DOJ and financial industry. One of my biggest disappointments with Obama.

 

[davesl708]

I just think the bulk of the fine should go to the people who bought the cars thinking they were in compliance not to the government Bureaucrats.

 

[IslandTractor]

I just think the bulk of the fine should go to the people who bought the cars thinking they were in compliance not to the government Bureaucrats.

The EPA doesn't just get to keep fines and improve their coffee shops. The money goes to the either the Treasury or to harmed individuals. In cases like stock fraud it goes to reimburse harmed investors. In cases like Toyota I think it went to the Treasury.

 

[davesl708]

The EPA doesn't just get to keep fines and improve their coffee shops. The money goes to the either the Treasury or to harmed individuals. In cases like stock fraud it goes to reimburse harmed investors. In cases like Toyota I think it went to the Treasury.

The Treasury is run by bureaucrats.

 

[sseelhoff]

I just think the bulk of the fine should go to the people who bought the cars thinking they were in compliance not to the government Bureaucrats.

There will be civil suits/class actions. VW is going to have to buy back the cars, or retrofit to comply, as a start. Deceptive Trade Practices Act applies, and has provisions for treble damages and attorney's fees.

This has the potential to bankrupt VW. Would not be the first time a product has bankrupted a manufacturer.

 

[IslandTractor]

The Treasury is run by bureaucrats.

Thankfully yes. I'd hate it to be run by cleaning ladies or politicians.

 

[IslandTractor]

There will be civil suits/class actions. VW is going to have to buy back the cars, or retrofit to comply, as a start. Deceptive Trade Practices Act applies, and has provisions for treble damages and attorney's fees.

This has the potential to bankrupt VW. Would not be the first time a product has bankrupted a manufacturer.

Agree that the paper liabilities here could well exceed the stock value of VW (about $60-70B or so if I recall). However they also apparently have $18 billion in cash and the German government behind them so unless there is a worst case financial settlement(s) then my guess is they will survive. The EPA for example may not impose the full $18 billion theoretical fine if a) VW works to correct the problem effectively and b) if political pressure not to destroy jobs at VW dealers and Chattanooga are brought to bear. It's not like VW has been a chronic bad actor that everyone will try to bury. Lots of lawyers will be eating steak over this but I'm thinking that as nobody was killed and nobody was injured, that we are not going to see massive payouts.

 

[hutchman]

I can't believe no-one asked "How'd you do that?" A lot of people had to be involved in this. Even the engineers not involved must have been puzzled how such results were achieved.

Exactly "how many people knew" will make a great case study for conspiracy researchers. One of the main arguments against the wilder conspiracy theories is that "you just can't keep that many people quiet". It will be fascinating to put some numbers to that question.

I can understand how it may happened. We develop products that have to be certified by various bodies (UL, FCC, cellular carriers like AT&T, Verizon, etc.). The engineers developing the product often times aren't involved with that kind of stuff ... they are focused on the product. Another group usually works with the factory to do things like factory test or to take product to various agencies and work with them at the testing site during certification. The product engineers often have internal test modes they use to test their stuff and sometimes these are the same interfaces the factory and others use to put products into 'test mode' to prove out proper operation.

Probably too early to know the truth but I'm sure it will come out in time.

 

[hutchman]

I knew an engineering student who interned with GM. He worked in a department that bought competitive cars, like Lexus at the time, and completely disassembled them to see how they were made. Probably standard procedure in the industry. It' s not a stretch to think that an engineer at a VW competitor would run his own evaluation on such a seemingly competitive diesel. Maybe the industry wanted to keep it quiet for some reason, despite the unfair advantage.

It's called BI (Business Intelligence) and It's big business. Reverse engineering is an art.