The so called “dieselgate” scandal refers to Volkswagen found guilty for forging turbo charged diesel engines (TDI) models to create a false image about emission controls. The “dieselgate” to began in September 2015, when the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to German automaker Volkswagen Group. The agency had found that Volkswagen had intentionally programmed turbocharged direct injection (TDI) diesel engines to activate their emissions controls only during laboratory emissions testing which caused the vehicles’ NOx output to meet US standards during regulatory testing, but emit up to 40 times more NOx in real-world driving. Volkswagen deployed this programming software in about eleven million cars worldwide, and 500,000 in the United States, in model years 2009 through 2015.
The “dieselgate “ scandal shocked the world and shock the Volkswagen Group to the ground. The German auto maker, one of the leading giants in the auto industry took this hit to hard. The majority of their models, especially the ones with diesel powered engines were assembled and exported to us market. The German officials conducted their own research that shown different results from the ones the US officials claimed. But, when it comes to economy and their own market the Americans had the last work. They stood behind their words and they demanded from Volkswagen Group to pay the damages and to reprogram their vehicles. Volkswagen Group left with no other option but to admit their guilt and to pay severe many to both American government and to the customers. But, until this day the researchers from the entire world did their own independent research on the targeted models , with that specific type of engine and came with no definitive answer regarding emission charges. Some of them supported American governmental agency and some of them did not find any evidence that shown the foul play from the Volkswagen Group. But the main question remains. What about the consequences for the German automaker? Their reputation was shaken and people don’t believe them anymore. As of 2018. The Volkswagen Group retuned to US market with some of their models shamefully in order to compete again in that market. Many analysts believe that this was a classic scam from Americans because Volkswagen Group were jeopardizing their domestic cars and competition. The sad thing is that the through about “dieselgate” will unfortunately remain hidden.
Ric Roxas
