Volkswagen In The News

Everyone knows the old adage from the sports world: “If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin.”  Well, it appears that Volkswagen (VW) has been trying really, really hard when it comes to meeting vehicle emissions standards. Recently, it was revealed that VW was cheating on emissions tests for its “clean diesel” vehicles to make their emissions appear much lower than they actually were. VW has admitted that internal investigations have revealed that the “problem” may effect nearly 11 million VW vehicles world wide.

The issues stems from software on VW’s line of clean diesel vehicles that were apparently intentionally programmed to provide artificially low emissions numbers when connected to emissions testing devices. According to the EPA, VW programmed the engine management software in some diesel cars to activate emissions controls only when being tested. Those same cars would allegedly emit up to 40 times the allowed amount of nitrogen oxide when on the road.

The company is already under investigation by the EPA and the Department of Justice as well as government agencies in Germany, France, Italy, and South Korea. As if the potential for fines and criminal charges is not bad enough, civil lawsuits by consumers are already coming.  Stay tuned.  It should be a wild ride.