VW CEO Claims They Did NOT Do Anything Ethically Wrong Concerning #Dieselgate - Isn't That Part Of The Problem?

My understanding is as follows:

(1) Emission laws exist that permit or deny a manufacturer from selling their vehicles in specific markets.

(2) Those laws define the criteria that must be met, and the process in which the required criteria is measured. One of them is performing an in-lab (only) emissions test in which the vehicle must not exceed certain levels of specific exhaust gasses.

(3) Those laws also define a "defeat device," or a mechanism, regardless of whether it achieves its goal through hardware or software, that causes a vehicle to perform differently while it's in the lab, being tested for emissions. The law clearly states that this is prohibited.

(4) Those laws also state that when a manufacturer is submitting a vehicle for certification, they must (a) disclose all "exceptional" behavior that might occur during testing, and (b) detail the precise nature of the conditions that invoke the behavior, and the precise nature of the exceptional behavior.


On the matter of VW's breach of ethics and contravening of laws:

1. VW violated #3 by deliberately creating and implementing software that does exactly this (i.e., "cheat software"). They further compounded this fact my revising the software on an ongoing basis to make it more difficult for authorities to detect it.

2. They also did not make legally required disclosure, as required by law in #4

3. As recently as this week(!), while VW keeps making public statements that they are "co-operating with authorities", authorities have rejected VW's recall plans because they assert VW still is not making complete disclosures as required by #4.

4. US authorities are extremely displeased with VW's lack of cooperation in disclosing the facts pertaining to the Dieselgate scandal. Their investigations are hampered by VW's secrecy and withholding of pertinent information. VW does not deny they are withholding information, and are citing German law as their justification for doing so. So much for "cooperation".


Judge for yourself as to whether you believe VW is being ethical or not. It's abundantly clear that they broke laws numerous times, lied about it, and continue to be much less than "completely open, honest, and cooperative" with authorities and authorities' investigations into Dieselgate. In *MY* opinion, this was, and continues to be unethical behavior.

Sounds like he has been listening to his lawyers advice. Good luck with that.

Mueller needs to be fired.

I cannot help but think that VW should be doing a lot more to comply. The reality is that if this level of criminality and cover up continues to get out of hand, VW could be barred from selling products and that would include Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, and Bentley.

VWAG is being beyond foolish.

One can not claim they should not be punished for a law they did not understand.

Sure - they can claim ANYTHING

However - they still will be punished

The idea that a Super Large Multi National Auto Company - one that fights to be the Largest seller in the world - had NO American Lawyers on staff to interpret the rules is NONSENSE. WHy is it that other smaller auto companies seem to be able to understand the requirements and VW doesn't?

He's taking a page from GM playbook

The Takada playbook for sure. GM set up a process to vet and compensate victims, and to recall and fix the vehicles (I had one) while Takada and VW stonewall. Everyday that goes by with VW not clearly outlining what it is going to do digs the hole deeper, with their "customers": end users, government and stockholders (outside of Saxony and the two P families).

Yep GM set up a process to compensate victims 10 years after it first knew of a problem that would cost $2 to fix.

I listened to the interview, this guy sounded clueless. He need to be the next one to exit VW.

The more VW speaks in such way the more pressing VW should be punished, what an arrogant company !

VW needs to own what they did. They should have hired new management instead of promoting from within. They continue to be arrogant and offensive.

Mueller didn't misunderstand the "english" worded question, he mistakenly said what the company believes. VWAG and the German men that run the company think Americans are stupid, overacting, litigious fools. The only issue with his cynical disregard for the truth is he actually believes what he said in the first interview. Only after the VW American PR department and Lawyers got ahold of him did he bow to the actual facts of the purposeful lies VWAG pushed and covered for years... The only way to break the company of its cynical disregard for truth and law is to punish them so severely that the Porsche-Piech family & Lower Saxony state in Germany feel the financial effect of running a company that believes its own hubris and thinks the rule of LAW is beneath them. The fact that the US regulators are not receiving all the subpoenaed documents they asked for from VWAG is proof positive that Everyone knew what they were doing years before they got caught... Break the backs of the management and force the company to wipe clean the incestious management of cousins and family running a company that is rooted in arrogance and lies. German engineering is not just a reference to the mechanical it also applies to their governmental and corporate structures, they think themselves superior in every way... the rest of the world knows better...or are we missing the lessons of history as VWAG replays them again for us.

I agree that hobbling VW is the way to go.

Just a thought for VW CEO Matthias Mueller: When one tells a lie, it must at least *seem* believable to those who receive it.

When one tells a lie that does not seem believable, or even when one speaks the truth and it doesn't sound believable, then the speaker will have no credibility, and will be held in contempt by their audience.

He's either an arrogant prick or and idiot without the proper command of English to be making statements in English (or both) about the legal mess VW is in.

How many hard driving people who want to make things happen would hang around a company that manages by threats and tells you what to do rather than challenges you to solve challenges within an ethical framework? Those types likely left VW. Listening to Mueller, also the USA guy, etc. it seems the folks they need aren't there. I am coming to believe that Matt is correct, they need outsiders but where they find someone who would want the job?

Porsche, Piech, and Lower Saxony have to hire someone and give him complete control. Alan Mulally would be my suggestion. Granted, Ford was not in a legal crisis, but how he transformed Ford was game changing.

An American would have a tough time with that company as the VW attitude/history means they would not accept him (or her, but as one German exec I know said to an American woman CEO "We don't do women here")!! The regulators need to drive VW into bankruptcy to get P,P and LS out and the German government would be forced to step in and reorganize and find a tough globally oriented team to come in. Mulally is too nice.

I'm I this only one that thinks the epa and carb sucks? Their overreaching laws are going to kill the economy. Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant.

The EPA and CARB suck because they are political entities and not unbiased. They serve at the mercy of whatever regime is in control.

AMEN!

Like the Japanese and Toyota when their problems became public record this simply may be part of a cultural divide. Maybe VAG simply thinks their rules make more sense than USA rules. Who knows. As been stated
the obvious solution by the US is to seriously fine VAG to such an extent that they comply with our rules and come up with solutions that are satisfactory to US standards. VAG will comply eventually because they really want to continue to sell Diesels in the USA. Hitting them in the pocket book is the only effective way.

Some of the comments suggest that some of you guys must be off your meds! Hope your blood pressure comes back under control!

Lets remember HOW VW "got here" so to speak. But first let's remember that they ARE, in fact, a EUROPEAN car company with a strongly European bias to there thinking about the design, execution and function of automobiles. THAT happens to be the reason why most of their US customers buy their cars! So we shouldn't criticidr them too much for taking a European approach to US emissions REGULATION. Strictly speaking, the LAW only empowers the EPA to "regulate" emissions, leaving, for the most part, the standards to be met and the methods to be prescribed up to the bureaucrats at EPA.

In Europe, the holy grail of regulation of vehicle emissions has been reduction of CO2. Mis-guided in my opinion, but that is nevertheless what the Europeans have decided is most important. Correctly recognizing that the inherent greater thermal efficiency of the diesel was the best internal combustion path to that goal, VW lead the way in trying to make the diesel a market success.

In the US, the mindset has been different and regulators have been equally or more concerned about the inherent greater NOx emissions of the diesel. The two are irrevocably linked because the higher combustion temperatures of the diesel is the source of BOTH it's greater CO2 efficiency AND its greater tendency to make NOx. So the US came up with REALLY stringent NOx emissions limits and paid much greater attention to this issue.

Without recapping the whole sordid story, in attempting to solve this dilemma, VW did clearly lose their way. At first it may have seemed like a clever trick and one that only perhaps "bent" the rules. But they got committed to it and when lies and cover-ups were resorted to, things only got worse as they always do! So now they're attempting to come clean and fix their major screw-up with their loyal customers. Since that began, there HAS clearly been a CHANGE in the story a bit. Seems pretty clear that they've gotten "lawyer'd-up" as the saying goes. Put that down to our legal system as much as anything.

The fact remains that they've built good vehicles that have served and please a lot of people. Now they're going to have to face the music for some of their mistakes and bad choices, and it will hurt. But for myself, I hope the punishment isn't far worse than the crime. Contrary to the severe and unjustified vindictiveness I hear from some other commenters here, I personally hope they get this fixed and get back to selling good diesel cars. I'm driving one now, I like it and I hope I can replace if with a new one pretty soon!