Founded in 1946, the roots of Volkswagen comes from Germany known for producing quality and stylish vehicles. It brands itself as an affordable and speedy car for the people. ‘Volkswagen’ also actually means ‘People’s Car’, suggesting that the vehicle was catered for the everyday man. When the VW Beetle was launched, it took the world by storm and had become a symbol of Germany.

Through the years it managed to establish a presence in the car market, one that prides itself on promoting ‘Clean Diesel’ as an alternative to hybrid and electric vehicles (Atiyeh, 2019). However, on January 4, 2016, Volkswagen was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its excessive diesel emissions.

“most expensive act of stupidity in the history of the car industry”

Upon going through tests, EPA realised that VW diesel car had much higher emissions that tests had suggested, allegedly due to the installation of a software in several diesel cars that could deceive regulators (BBC, 2015). This software allows them to sense the unique paramters of an emissions drive cycle set out by EPA and during test mode, the cars will be fully compliant wth all federal emissions level. However when it is driven, the computer switches to a separate mode, one that changes the “fuel pressure, injection timing, exhaust-gas circulation and … amount of urea fluid sprayed into the exhaust” (Atiyeh, 2019).

Collectively, this mode delivers a higher mileage ad power but also releases higer concentration of nitrogen-oxide emissions (NOx). This smog-forming pollutant is associated with lung cancer and has been recorded to release up to 40 times as much NOx as it should be releasing.

As a result, it is no surprise that VM was slapped with a $14.7billion fine to settle with three federal agencies. This is the highest ever paid by a company for such violations and VM had to buy back the cars or fear the repercussions of having to pay extra. VM however, had denied such allegations that it had purposefully cheated emissions on these engines. The usual FTP 75 (federal emissions test procedure) runs for 1370 seconds but the software was engineered in such a way that after an hour, it would switch from ‘temperature conditioning’ to ‘normal mode’ (EPA, 2015)

As a company, to what extent does its coporate social responsibility extend till? In the next post we will deep dive into the environmental and social effects it has caused on the people and how NOx affects us as a secondary pollutant in the environment.

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