4 ms·

Why are so few people questioning the regulators, too? I cannot conceive that it is that easy to fool them.

adekok 11y ago
Think of requirements vs implementation. One groups designs the tests, and the other who implements them. The test designers don't really know a lot about how the systems work. The implementors are ordered to follow the design... no matter what. Sound familiar?
avar 11y ago
Generally speaking regulators aren't actively testing that consumer products meet regulation. The way it works is that the government sets standards that should be met by industry, and then the industry takes care of meeting those standards. If they don't and they get found out they're in big legal & financial trouble, which is what's happening with VW now.
jacquesm 11y ago
The testing capabilities of government labs are handily outstripped by industry capability to create differentiated products. The cost burden of regulation testing is to some extent pushed back to the manufacturers with a big 'comply or else' warning to make sure they take it serious. The 'or else' bit translates into a fine per product sold which means if you get caught cheating that will eat up a very large chunk of your turnover for that market making getting caught something you will want to avoid so much that compliance is the easier way out. And if you can't be compliant then the better idea is probably not to try to sell your products into that market.
- URSpider94 11y ago
  This. Almost all regulatory bodies, whether CARB, OSHA, EPA, USDA have been pushed into a mode of "self-certification", where the regulated effectively police themselves. Compliance bodies rarely have the staff or the budget to audit more than a scant fraction of the test results that are submitted to them. For this to work, the punishment, when caught, has to overwhelm the profit from the deception by not just a little, but by a large multiple. Otherwise, companies will realize that they can just take the risk and will only have to pay up in the unlikely case that they are unmasked.
sumsted 11y ago
I agree. If we're going to add compliance the list of groups to blame, we might as well add the regulators. VW did pass the test.

Think of requirements vs implementation. One groups designs the tests, and the other who implements them. The test designers don't really know a lot about how the systems work. The implementors are ordered to follow the design... no matter what. Sound familiar?

avar 11y ago

Generally speaking regulators aren't actively testing that consumer products meet regulation. The way it works is that the government sets standards that should be met by industry, and then the industry takes care of meeting those standards. If they don't and they get found out they're in big legal & financial trouble, which is what's happening with VW now.

jacquesm 11y ago

The testing capabilities of government labs are handily outstripped by industry capability to create differentiated products. The cost burden of regulation testing is to some extent pushed back to the manufacturers with a big 'comply or else' warning to make sure they take it serious. The 'or else' bit translates into a fine per product sold which means if you get caught cheating that will eat up a very large chunk of your turnover for that market making getting caught something you will want to avoid so much that compliance is the easier way out. And if you can't be compliant then the better idea is probably not to try to sell your products into that market.

URSpider94 11y ago
This. Almost all regulatory bodies, whether CARB, OSHA, EPA, USDA have been pushed into a mode of "self-certification", where the regulated effectively police themselves. Compliance bodies rarely have the staff or the budget to audit more than a scant fraction of the test results that are submitted to them. For this to work, the punishment, when caught, has to overwhelm the profit from the deception by not just a little, but by a large multiple. Otherwise, companies will realize that they can just take the risk and will only have to pay up in the unlikely case that they are unmasked.

sumsted 11y ago

I agree. If we're going to add compliance the list of groups to blame, we might as well add the regulators. VW did pass the test.