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Really, the engineer is the fall guy. Yes he's at fault but what kind of QA system does a billion dollar car company have that one person carried on a sham for

Really, the engineer is the fall guy. Yes he's at fault but what kind of QA system does a billion dollar car company have that one person carried on a sham for decades. No way he was alone! Top management needs to be grilled on what really happened. At the very least the VP of the division that manged the emission controls for the company needs to be charged with some felony. I bet that If he would have said something early on he would have been called a hero. Now he's a felon. This is a real learning moment for us techies. If you see something illegal, report it to the proper authorities and run don't walk out of the company. Companies will find a scapegoat to blame. "Hey you seem like a good choice as any," be ready for it.

SilasX 10y ago
Note that this is also an American employee, and there is certainly still blame to assign at the head offices in Germany, to both technical employees and upper management. Figure I might as well ask it here: how does it happen in Germany? If you go on reddit, you get inundated every day with tales of how strong their unions and labor protections are, and how seriously they take professional ethics and accreditation. Why didn't they feel they had the power to object to a plan like this? Edit: I stand corrected; the DoJ release says he was working in Germany and so should have been covered by those protections: "According to the plea agreement, from 1983 until May 2008, Liang was an employee of Volkswagen AG (VW), working in its diesel development department in Wolfsburg, Germany." https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/volkswagen-engineer-pleads-guilty-his-role-conspiracy-cheat-us-emissions-tests https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/volkswagen-engineer-pleads-gu...
- WheelsAtLarge 10y ago
  I suspect why it all happened is that emissions are invisible for the most part so it's easy to not see it as a big deal. It's just regulations getting in the way. The reality is that people's health are effected by the emissions now and for some time to come. I bet early deaths can be attributed to the extra pollution these cars put out and all of it could have been avoided.
- ricw 10y ago
  I know people who worked on vw emissions in Germany that have been banned by vw / their sub contractor from ever entering the USA again. Probably in their own personal interest too. Curious to see what will happen to them in Germany..
- sqldba 10y ago
  > Why didn't they feel they had the power to object to a plan like this? I can't speak for Germany, but managers in large companies in general view EVERYTHING as a check box. It doesn't matter what it is, it doesn't matter how it's achieved, it doesn't matter if you're lying - if the box gets ticked then you've done your job.

SilasX 10y ago

Note that this is also an American employee, and there is certainly still blame to assign at the head offices in Germany, to both technical employees and upper management. Figure I might as well ask it here: how does it happen in Germany? If you go on reddit, you get inundated every day with tales of how strong their unions and labor protections are, and how seriously they take professional ethics and accreditation. Why didn't they feel they had the power to object to a plan like this? Edit: I stand corrected; the DoJ release says he was working in Germany and so should have been covered by those protections: "According to the plea agreement, from 1983 until May 2008, Liang was an employee of Volkswagen AG (VW), working in its diesel development department in Wolfsburg, Germany." https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/volkswagen-engineer-pleads-guilty-his-role-conspiracy-cheat-us-emissions-tests https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/volkswagen-engineer-pleads-gu...

WheelsAtLarge 10y ago
I suspect why it all happened is that emissions are invisible for the most part so it's easy to not see it as a big deal. It's just regulations getting in the way. The reality is that people's health are effected by the emissions now and for some time to come. I bet early deaths can be attributed to the extra pollution these cars put out and all of it could have been avoided.
ricw 10y ago
I know people who worked on vw emissions in Germany that have been banned by vw / their sub contractor from ever entering the USA again. Probably in their own personal interest too. Curious to see what will happen to them in Germany..
sqldba 10y ago
> Why didn't they feel they had the power to object to a plan like this? I can't speak for Germany, but managers in large companies in general view EVERYTHING as a check box. It doesn't matter what it is, it doesn't matter how it's achieved, it doesn't matter if you're lying - if the box gets ticked then you've done your job.