Hasemeyer, 1

Austin Hasemeyer

October 10, 2016

CST373-30

Kevin Cahill

VW Emissions Scandal

My name is Austin Hasemeyer, I am entering my final year at California State University

Monterey Bay majoring in Computer Science. This semester we are looking at some ethical

dilemmas that arise from technological issues. As an aspiring software developer it is very

important to think about all of the implications that your software can have, not just the actual

function of the software or how the user will interact with it. But the programmer will need to

think of the unintended consequences of their actions, whether it be loss of jobs, exploiting

existing structures, or even the loss of lives. Whatever the case it is very important that a

designer or a company thinks of all of the ethical implications that could arise from their

product, as well as the fallout that could result from their actions.

In this paper I will explore the ethical issues related to the recent Volkswagen emissions

scandal. This emission scandal is the perfect platform to explore what can happen when a

company tries to beat the system in order to push their product. This example demonstrates

not only the individuals whose reputations were tarnished but also currently the second largest

auto manufacturers reputation being put up to question. It is an issue that has affected over a

half a million customers within the United States of America along with an additional 10.5

million diesel vehicles worldwide. Due to the vast impact of this scandal it is still ongoing and
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Volkswagen have taken extreme losses and caused pain to many customers and tarnished their

reputation, possibly permanently.

Unless you are living in an Amish community you most likely have heard of the

Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal or even you or someone you know have been affected by

it, but what exactly was going on? Well it all dates back to May of 2014 when an engineer

named John German was running real world emissions experiments on a group of diesel cars.

The study was started because Germans team observed that European diesel vehicles have

much high emissions than their US counter parts. The United States has much stricter

environmental laws that limit the emissions that a car can emit, .04 grams/kilometer of

nitrogen oxide (Gates, Ewing, Russell, & Watkins, 2016), Europe has looser regulations which

allows for more nitrogen oxide depending on the country. German and his team wanted to see

why the Europeans were not producing more environmentally safe vehicles when it was being

done in the United States, at least in a lab. To prove his theory German created a device that

would record emissions while on the road for a few diesel vehicles, Volkswagen Passat,

Volkswagen Jetta, and a BMW X5. Previous tests had recorded emissions while the car was on

a dyno machine.

After conducting his real road tests German and his associates found some rather

troubling results, results that suggested that not only were the American line of Volkswagens

not producing less emissions but that they were over the legal limit, in the case of the Jetta up

to 35 times more pollutant (Gates, Ewing, Russell, & Watkins, 2016). But his tests did bring

some unexpected results, the BMW X5 which is a much larger vehicle still fell within the legal
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limits despite its size and power. This suggested that it is possible for diesel vehicles to be low

emissions vehicles and still maintain mileage and power. After recording and validating his

findings German sent a notice to Volkswagen stating his findings, he also send a full report to

the Environment Protection Agency or EPA.

The EPA is responsible for creating the vehicle emissions code on a national level,

however, their regulations were rather lax until of late. The state of California has been seeing

worsening air pollution for several years, in particular in the metropolis of Los Angeles. With

the United States being the second largest producer of greenhouse gases the state of California

decided to act before the problem become an epidemic. The worsening problem prompted

action in the form of creating the California Air Resources Board or CARB. CARB preceded the

Clean Air Act making California the only state allowed to enact their own air quality agency.

This policy regulates several things such as emissions, mileage, weight and several others that

force current auto makers to comply to while making new vehicles as well as consumers need

to maintain their cars emission levels. Not every state complies with the CARB initiative but

they do need to comply with the EPA regulations. In 2009 Barack Obama incorporated part of

the CARBs policy for setting a national fuel economy and emissions policy in an effort to curb

dangerous greenhouse gases. If a company does not comply with these laws there can be legal

repercussions.

The California Air Resource Board along with the Environmental Protection Agency

launched a formal investigation after receiving Volkswagens emission test results. By

December of 2014 Volkswagen had released a fix for their emission problems by offering a
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software tweak that will reduce the pollutants. The fix would affect the automobiles computer

to alter the mixture of fuel and air in an effort to meet emission standards. This fix reduced the

pollutants marginally but were still over the legal limit, Volkswagen offered several different

solutions to this problem but nothing seemed to really fix the issue. On July 8th of 2015 CARB

released its test results from the new fixed Volkswagens did not meet United States

standards and that their next year models would not be certified. This potential loss in a large

market, such as the United States, forced the executives at Volkswagen to admit they installed

a device that allowed their cars to pass a dyno emissions test. It wasnt until over a year after

Germans findings in September of 2015 that the auto manufacturer confirmed that they had

installed a defeat device in several of their diesel road cars.

So what exactly is the defeat device, why would a manufacturer install such a device,

and how did it go unnoticed for so long? Modern cars have several different electronic

components that monitor almost everything that is going on mechanically in the car. These

sensors control several things going on inside of the cars engine, such has fuel to air ratio in the

combustion chamber as well as the amount of fuel being carried out via exhaust. Diesel

vehicles have a component called a lean NOx catalyst, or LNC, basically this filter converts toxic

gas into nitrogen, water and carbon dioxide (Motavalli, 2015). This filter is very important to

reduce harmful emissions; however, for the filter to work it needs excess fuel to pass through

the engine, thus reducing the cars miles per gallon. Since the car is always monitoring the

amount of fuel being used it is possible to make sure no extra fuel is being passed into the

exhaust, making the NOx trap ineffective and the car more pollutant; however, it is more fuel

efficient (Motavalli, 2015). To make the car pass an emissions test it is necessary that the NOx
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trap is working, but to maintain fuel efficiency the NOx filter must not work while driving; this is

where the defeat device comes in.

The defeat device is part of the cars computer that is able to tell when the car is taking

an emissions test and only turn on the NOx filter while doing so. The device will monitor the

cars wheel position, amount of throttle, duration of constant throttle and several other

elements that are characteristics of an emissions test and activate NOx trap. When it is being

driven in the real world and these factors are not met the car will make sure it is as fuel

efficient as possible without filtering any of the harmful pollutants. Now this feature was only

on their models that operated using the 2.0 liter diesel engine, their larger diesel engines had a

different particle filter that does not require excess fuel to operate. These vehicles have a

device call a urea injection system which also traps the NOx, but they are more expensive to

build and maintain.

Once Volkswagen was caught with egg on their collective face they had an uphill battle

is gaining back the trust of customers and competitors alike. The company had to deal with not

only the legal firestorm that was headed their way but the medias wrath as well. Since the

beginning of Volkswagens diesel campaign they chanting Clean Diesel, it along with their fuel

efficiency were the backbone of their marketing campaign. Not only was that ad campaign

permanently scrapped but their company name was even in question now, Volkswagen

translates to for the people but deceiving the people is not exactly for them is it? Knowing

that they had lost the trust of millions Volkswagen released 30 full page newspaper apologies

that offered affected owners a $500 Visa prepaid card in an effort to regain some public
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opinion. Now that it was not only brought to light that their diesels were not in fact clean but

that they were deliberately hiding the true emissions someone at Volkswagen had to face the

music.

On September 20th, just two days after the US demanded the recall of half a millions

cars, current Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn released an apologetic statement claiming he

is deeply sorry for his companies actions but denied any involvement (Ruddick, Topham,

Mathiesen, & Neslen, 2015). The next day when to stack exchanged opened Volkswagen had

lost 15bn and Winterkorns time at Volkswagen was coming to an end. On September 23rd

Winterkorn resigned from Volkswagen and his successor Matthias Muller was appointed a few

days later. Since his appointment Muller has been trying desperately to beg or buy customers

to come back to Volkswagen, but their company has a long way to go before regaining the trust

of people worldwide.

This vastly reaching scandal is not only inconvenient for the owners of the car and

harmful to the environment but there are several ethical boundaries that the executives at

Volkswagen crossed to push their cars. The biggest ethical motivator in this case is

Winkerkorns Egoism. This comes from the root of why Volkswagen would put the defeat

device in their cars to begin with, and the reason is money. When you boil it all down the LNC,

that the recalled vehicles were using, is cheaper than installing the urea injection system that

the passing vehicles used. Volkswagen executive knew that to keep up their profit margin as

well as maintain the fuel economy that they promised they would need to find a way to make

the cheaper NOx trap trick the dyno emissions test. Cheating this test counter acts every clean
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air act that has been passed in the last few decades that are aimed to help improve air quality

and quality of life overall. The only driving factor to take such careless actions is the potential

profit that these top executives who ordered the device to be created could potentially

generate. However, the Volkswagen scandal breaks the walls of even Egoism because at its

core it states that the individual will do all that is available within the rules of the game.

Volkswagen definitely stepped beyond those rules and breached worldwide laws that were

aimed at bettering society.

Their blatant disregard for the planet and the air quality that we all strive to improve

breaks several different ethical ideologies. The most apparent being the philosophy of

Environmentalism. Environmentalism is a mentality and social movement that is aimed at

taking care of our environment this can apply to everyone on an individual level but more so on

the heavy hitters such as large companies. The concept of environmentalism is nothing new

and almost everywhere in the world large companies as well as myself are working to produce

less waste and reuse more materials in order to create not only a better today but a better

tomorrow. Looking at Volkswagen, who are the second largest auto manufacturer in the world,

the produce an immense amount of toxic air pollutants not only at their factory but as their

products operate. This signals that they should be extra concerned with their carbon footprint

due to the fact that they have one of the largest footprints out there. The executives at

Volkswagen knew this; however, they had utter disregard for the environment and the air that

everyone breathes.
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Cultural relativism is the belief that an individual should understand another

individuals culture, laws and way of life and respect them even if it is not the same as their

own. Volkswagen crossed this line rather gloriously by intentionally tricking other nations that

their cars were clean diesel and that they would comply with the hosting countries laws and

regulations. The United States has some of the most restrictive emissions laws and the

executives at Volkswagen were one hundred percent aware of the actions that our nation, as

well as several others, has taken in order to preserve our environment. Knowing what other

countries would require of them and abiding to those laws would show that Volkswagen has a

great understanding of the concept of cultural relativism. However, they went the opposite

way with it, they found out what other nations require of their cars and intentionally

manipulated their cars to appear compliant. They did so rather extravagantly after initial

statements claimed that only one or two executives made the decision to install the device it

was revealed that Volkswagen had created an entire team of engineers to handle the task

(Nichols). Volkswagens utter disregard for the sovereign decisions that states made to regulate

their cars pollutant emissions is a direct contradiction to cultural relativism.

Moving forward Volkswagen has a lot of ground to make up. They have not only lost

the trust of millions of consumers but they have been shunned by entire governments such as

the United Kingdoms for, as stated by UK science minister Lord Drayson, literally killing

people (Kollewe, 2015). But what can they do in the next 5, 10 or even 20 years to try to

regain their customers trust and, possibly more important to them, cope with the large

financial loss. Since the scandal broke Volkswagen has been being pressured into compensating

the customers that were affected by the diesel defeat device. Once Matthias Muller took the
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reins he has been battling with United States prosecutors who are suing the company due to

environmental negligence. To combat these truthful allegations Volkswagen has settled to pay

back $15.3 billion dollars to account for the nearly half a million vehicles affected in the United

States. This is only the beginning of the penalty fee that covered the first round of recalled

vehicles, there are still an approximate 85,000 vehicles that use Volkswagens 3.0 liter engine

which was fitted with the defeat device since the start of 2009. These vehicles could result in

hundreds of millions of dollars in additional fines that the company would have to pay.

This penalty is just the start of Volkswagens rebranding of themselves, even though it

was the result of lawsuits from 44 states in the United States. For Volkswagen to regain the

peoples trust it will take years and years of hard work and potentially shrink their profit

margins. Today they are still the second largest auto manufacturer in the world, second to

Toyota, but in the coming years that may very well change as customers are already stating that

they will never buy a Volkswagen again. Volkswagen has already scrapped their slogans clean

diesel and das auto as they try to distance themselves from the ongoing scandal. Several

high level executes have since been purged from their company in an attempt to hold

individuals responsible for the scandal. The head of the defeat device division, James Robert

Liang, has plead guilty in his role and is working with US prosecutors who are defending the

Clean Air Act in order to receive a reduced sentence (Nichols). Volkswagen has made several

large donations to clean energy initiatives as a result of their lawsuit, but they need to show

that they want to help the environment when they are not forced to. As 2017 models of

Volkswagens have been released across the world their diesel models have no plans of

returning to the United States any time soon. Volkswagen will continue to push their gasoline
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models in the United States but until they regain the markets trust in their diesel models I do

not see them coming back any time soon.

For Volkswagen to regain the trust of their once so faithful customers will need to

continue what they were doing before 2009. Volkswagen was once the largest auto

manufacturer in the world and were renowned for their affordable and reliable cars. The only

true fix for their reputation is to continue what they were once known for. As reputations go

there is no immediate fix, Volkswagen seems to taking the correct actions to deal with the

individuals who had the most say in the scandal but who knows the true extent of all parties

included. They will need to continue to contribute to cleaner energy options and show the

world that they are interested in making a car that makes a better environment instead of

damaging the environment. A person friend of mine had his new model Passat TDI recalled and

was given the option to return the car for repairs or have his car loan paid off with an additional

$5,000. He choose the latter option and he has not received a date for when he will be

compensated yet or even decided if he will go Volkswagen again, but Volkswagen is taking

steps to gain their customers back.

I believe that Volkswagen exploited environmental laws for very selfish means and that

without legal action they would not have changed their ways. The continued to cover up the

fact that they were lying and tried to distract from their involvement by pinning it on limited

individuals. However, I do not think that as a company they are drowning. It will takes years to

regain the trust of millions but the only way to do so is to pay the fines and move forward.

Once the fines are all dispersed and there are no longer the pollutant cars on the road then the
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ball is in Volkswagens court. They will set the precedence for their future cars to come, and

hopefully this time they will think of everyone and everything that their actions are impacting.
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References:

Gates, G., Ewing, J., Russell, K., & Watkins, D. (2016, September 12). Explaining Volkswagens
Emissions Scandal. Retrieved October 11, 2016, from
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/business/international/vw-diesel-emissions-
scandal-explained.html

Kollewe, J. (2015). UK government wrong to subsidise diesel, says former minister. Retrieved
October 11, 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/oct/01/uk-
government-wrong-to-subsidise-diesel-says-former-minister

Motavalli, J. (2015, October 5). Here's how VW's diesel 'defeat devices' worked. Retrieved
October 11, 2016, from http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/blogs/heres-
how-vws-diesel-defeat-devices-worked

Nichols, S. (n.d.). VW Dieselgate engineer sings like a canary:. Retrieved October 11, 2016, from
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/12/vw_engineer_state_witness_in_dieselgate/

Ruddick, G., Topham, G., Mathiesen, K., & Neslen, A. (2015). VW chief Martin Winterkorn
defiant over emissions cheating scandal. Retrieved October 11, 2016, from
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/22/vw-chief-martin-winterkorn-
defiant-over-emissions-cheating-scandal