The scandals at Volkswagen (VW) seem to be never-ending. On Tuesday, November 3rd, German newspaper “Bild am Sonntag” reported that VW was once again found to be circumventing government emissions regulations, this time by allegedly falsifying fuel economy and carbon dioxide (CO2 ) readings. These reports have been confirmed by Volkswagen.
According to VW leadership, this new deception was uncovered as a result of the internal investigations initiated by the company after the original VW scandal involving false readings of nitrogen oxide emissions in September.
During this investigation, a whistle-blower, reported by Bild am Sonntag to be a VW engineer, brought the fraud to the attention of his or her superior at VW. According to this unidentified employee’s report, VW workers had simulated desirable results for carbon dioxide emissions and fuel economy by cheating the testing procedures; to improve fuel economy numbers, tires were filled with more air than normal, and diesel fuel was added to the engine oil mixture.
According to VW, this revelation in the internal investigation revealed “unexplained inconsistencies” in the carbon-dioxide output of 800,000 vehicles, mostly in European models, although the full list of affected vehicles has yet to be confirmed.
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Volkswagen owners bought their diesel vehicles for a combination of good gas mileage and clean emissions. These owners now face financial loss related to repairs and vehicle loss of value, as well has dealing with the stress of the vehicle recall and repair process. If you or a loved one has suffered damages related to the Volkswagen scandal, and you would like to learn more about your legal rights, please call The Weinberg Law Firm at 1-877-934-6274 or visit our Volkswagen Class Action Lawsuit Help page.
Affected Models | November 3rd Report
• VW Polo Golf
• VW Passat models
• Audi premium brand, subcompact A1 and A3 hatchback
• Skoda Octavia
• Seat Ibiza
• Seat Leon
Affected Models | September 18th Report
• Jetta (MY 2009 – 2015)
• Jetta Sportwagen (MY 2009 – 2014)
• Beetle (MY 2012 – 2015)
• Beetle Convertible (MY 2012 – 2015)
• Audi A3 (MY 2010 – 2015)
• Golf (MY 2010 – 2015)
• Golf Sportwagen (MY 2015)
• Passat (MY2012 – 2015)
The First Volkswagen Scandal
Before this most recent deception by Volkswagen was revealed, Volkswagen had already been exposed in a former deception involving diesel vehicles and nitrogen oxide emissions. On September 21, 2015, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported that, in an effort to dupe both the government and consumers, Volkswagen diesel vehicles were equipped with “defeat device” software. This technology would reduce emissions of the pollutant nitrogen oxide by lowering fuel efficiency and performance, but only when the car was being tested. Once this vehicle was in normal operation, the defeat device would turn off the emission-reducing technology in order to regain maximum performance and fuel efficiency. Without the emission-reducing technology, these vehicles released forty times the approved amount of pollutants.
To learn more about the expansion of this scandal, visit Volkswagen Scandal Grows.
To learn more about the original uncovering of Volkswagen’s deceit visit VW Emissions Scandal Uncovered.
Origins and Consequences of Volkswagen Emissions Scandal
The original nitrogen oxide emissions deceit reportedly began around 2008. During that period, VW had made public announcements to improve their diesel vehicles’ environmental impact. When it became clear that this goal was impossible to achieve, apparently VW employees felt they had no choice but to falsify the results expected of them. The second case of VW cheating to get favorable emissions readings may have been caused by a similar uncompromising drive to provide expected results, despite ethics and laws.
According to the New York Times, when Former Volkswagen CEO, Martin Winterkorn, announced at the 2012 Geneva International Motor Show that “by 2015 the company would cut emissions of carbon dioxide by 30 percent from 2006 levels,” he gave his engineers an impossible task. Consequentially, in the intense corporate environment that has since been critiqued as a catalyst of this fraud, his employees again felt that cheating was the only option.
