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I think the key bit with this news is that they're doubling down on "the employees snuck this by us. We had no idea. Absolutely no clue whatsoever. Pinkie swear

by sounds 11y ago

I think the key bit with this news is that they're doubling down on "the employees snuck this by us. We had no idea. Absolutely no clue whatsoever. Pinkie swear." They may even be able to "find" an employee who has some kind of plausible story. The reality is that most auto manufacturers cheat on emissions tests in europe. Mechanics who work on the cars know it. Even the regulators are hesitant to reform emissions testing. The silver lining is that perhaps an actual improvement in emissions is happening, with the EPA adding road-testing to their emissions test suite.

draw_down 11y ago
> I think the key bit with this news is that they're doubling down on "the employees snuck this by us. We had no idea. Absolutely no clue whatsoever. Pinkie swear." > They may even be able to "find" an employee who has some kind of plausible story. Maybe! But then they are just claiming to be incompetent as an auto engineering organization, rather than malicious. An interesting choice.
jacquesm 11y ago
It won't be long before their email servers are going to be impounded. I assume they've long since been scrubbed of evidence but then there are the backups. It's going to be very tough to keep that house of cards standing if it isn't grounded in fact. Personally I wouldn't write a line of code like that even when authorized by management, I'd rather resign (but then again that's a argued from a position of relative luxury), but I hope that German programmers working for VW or Bosch would want to see some very explicit authorization that this is exactly what it is they are supposed to make with a note to the effect that they believe this is not legal or ethical or both. If not they may very well end up holding the bag, I have no doubt that this thing will be researched to the bottom.
Gibbon1 11y ago
>"the employees snuck this by us. We had no idea. Absolutely no clue whatsoever. Pinkie swear." That's how I read the headline. Good thing I wasn't in mid sip when I read it[1]. You can imagine what would happen to an engineer that tried to bring that up. I swear you can smell that dynamic at a company within fifteen minutes of walking in the door. [1] Seriously this sort of stuff happens, the board members should be banned from serving on a board of directors again.

by sounds 11y ago

draw_down 11y ago

> I think the key bit with this news is that they're doubling down on "the employees snuck this by us. We had no idea. Absolutely no clue whatsoever. Pinkie swear." > They may even be able to "find" an employee who has some kind of plausible story. Maybe! But then they are just claiming to be incompetent as an auto engineering organization, rather than malicious. An interesting choice.

jacquesm 11y ago

It won't be long before their email servers are going to be impounded. I assume they've long since been scrubbed of evidence but then there are the backups. It's going to be very tough to keep that house of cards standing if it isn't grounded in fact. Personally I wouldn't write a line of code like that even when authorized by management, I'd rather resign (but then again that's a argued from a position of relative luxury), but I hope that German programmers working for VW or Bosch would want to see some very explicit authorization that this is exactly what it is they are supposed to make with a note to the effect that they believe this is not legal or ethical or both. If not they may very well end up holding the bag, I have no doubt that this thing will be researched to the bottom.

Gibbon1 11y ago

>"the employees snuck this by us. We had no idea. Absolutely no clue whatsoever. Pinkie swear." That's how I read the headline. Good thing I wasn't in mid sip when I read it[1]. You can imagine what would happen to an engineer that tried to bring that up. I swear you can smell that dynamic at a company within fifteen minutes of walking in the door. [1] Seriously this sort of stuff happens, the board members should be banned from serving on a board of directors again.