No, this is not the reposting of an old blog produced last about Volkswagen faking diesel emissions tests. This is a brand new ethical scandal that is just now developing. Apparently, Volkswagen is attempting to go for an ethical record.
If you may not have known, Volkswagen owns the Audi brand. The company that brought the world the Beetle also brings us luxury cars that run from about $45,000 to the astronomical. Unfortunately, it appears as though money does not equate with good ethics.
Volkswagen has just disclosed (rather, admitted) that Audis have software that is able to lower the car’s carbon dioxide levels during an emissions test. I am not an engineer or software developer and so I can’t even begin to tell you how it works, but the clever folks at Audi were able to fake results so that they are lower than they actually are in everyday traffic situations.
Volkswagen: The Opportunity to Deceive
In order to create a scandal of any kind, we must first realize that people who are intent on committing an unethical act must see an opportunity for committing that act.
The brilliant engineers at Audi possibly realized that those spiffy, high-performance motors they had developed for their luxury cars had one “tiny” flaw: they put out CO2 at higher than permitted levels. Their solution was not to modify the engine to reduce the gasses, but to develop a software program that would modify the results when the engines were tested.
What was gained in this deception was that no expensive re-engineering was necessary, no delays were needed in producing new models, performance was not sacrificed and sales & marketing could make all of their claims about the brilliance of Audi’s designers and impeccable production.
Do emissions matter? Of course they do. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, despite the critiques against them, is trying to help us reduce emissions in order to improve our atmosphere. Audi has allegedly found a clever way to cheat. The company was saying: “Of course, we can show a lower emissions result than you mandate.” What they weren’t saying: “We can modify our software to fake any test that you can throw at us!”
We have to understand the enormity of Volkswagen Motors. They employ more than 600,000 workers worldwide with revenues of about $213 billion manufacturing Volkswagen, Audi, Lamborghini, Skoda and other brands. Last year’s emissions scandal cost them $15 billion, and their sales have been dropping over the last several quarters in part, due to their poor ethics. Still, they are a huge organization that is well established in the automotive market.
There is an important, ethical point to bring out here. A company with as many employees as Volkswagen has, has hundreds of departments, thousands of executives and managers.
Along the way, some lowly technician must have said to his or her boss, “Boss, the carbon dioxide levels are too high on the Audi engine.” Along the way, the fact was kicked up the ladder, expletives were screamed, and solutions were offered – all, unethical solutions. The mystery software was directed, developed, installed tested and released. The lowly technician was drowned out and maybe even the technician’s immediate superiors, but someone saw an opportunity to deceive and they went with it.
Every choice has a consequence. In this case, it appears likely that another fine may come, more losses will be incurred and the company will again be tarnished. Is it worth it?
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