VW

[777 fixer]

You have to wonder what made them think no one would ever catch on.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/27/business/as-vw-pushed-to-be-no-1-ambitions-fueled-a-scandal.html?_r=0

 

[Ms Tree]

No chit. A lot of the diesel heads are ticked off. Diesel was starting to make head way and VW pulls this crap.

If the fix is hardware and not software the costs are going to be stagering. 11 million cars sold,... figure at least half are probably still on the road. Big bucks.

 

[Glenn Quagmire]

This my be the end to the VW brand. Kinda like Firestone became Bridgestone after the tire scandal.

 

[delldude]

This my be the end to the VW brand. Kinda like Firestone became Bridgestone after the tire scandal.

 
 
Bridgestone is a tire company dating way back.
 

 

WHO WE ARE 
Bridgestone Americas traces its roots to two distinguished companies: The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, founded by Harvey Firestone in Akron, Ohio in August 1900, and the Bridgestone Tire Company Ltd., founded by Shojiro Ishibashi in Japan in 1931.
The two companies merged in 1988 when Bridgestone Corporation purchased Firestone, transforming the companies’ combined operations into the world’s largest tire and rubber company. As part of its integration with Bridgestone’s existing U.S. operations, Bridgestone Americas established its headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee in 1992.
Today, Bridgestone Americas consists of an international family of enterprises, with more than 50 production facilities and more than 55,000 employees throughout the Americas.
Bridgestone Americas remains committed to being a global leader in tire technology, providing world-class service and being an outstanding corporate citizen in the communities in which we live and work. The company’s culture and mission remains rooted in the words of founder Shojiro Ishibashi, who said Bridgestone is dedicated to “serving society with superior quality.”

 

[Glenn Quagmire]

"Many other firms were affected by the recall, including tire distributors nationwide. Many large retailers took a proactive stance and removed Firestone brands from their sales floors. Sears made the decision to remove Firestone tires even before the recall was officially announced. Sears, National Tire and Battery, and other retailers fully refunded customers who had purchased recalled tires and included the mounting and balancing costs if replacements were purchased. Many small retail operations that focused exclusively on Firestone tires changed their names and expanded or altered their product lines to avoid going bankrupt."

http://danielsethics.mgt.unm.edu/pdf/Firestone%20Case.pdf

I hope VW can come back from this. Time will tell. It will also be telling to see if they have learned from previous ethical scandals.

 

[delldude]

Are they the only ones?

 

[southwind]

Maybe Johann Tax payer can bail VW out!

 

[Glenn Quagmire]

Maybe Johann Tax payer can bail VW out!

Wow, you are clueless. It is frigging amazing that you are able to function in society.

 

[WorldTraveler]

VW is part owned by regional German government.

And there was supposed to be a report released Friday that one of BMW's diesel engines was not passing pollution requirements in Europe but I haven't seen any report come out. Daimler is saying they have never used cheat devices. If the engine cannot produce the promised performance without the cheat devices, the consumer liability could be as high or worse than the EPA fine.

This is a major blow small diesel engines in passenger cars and will inflict major damage to the VW and Audi brands. Remember that this isn't the first major issue with Audi in the US and it took decades for them to recover.

Given that "only" 500,000 of the 11 million cars were sold in the US and the potential US fine could be $18 billion, the cost to VW worldwide could be unimaginable.

This whole case is mind-numbing and perhaps the most mind-numbing part is that VW's outgoing CEO could end up with a 60 million Euro severance package. 60 million.

 

[delldude]

Wow, you are clueless. It is frigging amazing that you are able to function in society.

 
You know, I don't sink ze Germans will be the only ones caught mit der hand in ze cookie jar.

 

[700UW]

Nothing different than the Airline CEOs who got fired and rewarded.

 

[WorldTraveler]

yeah, there is.

The VW case is consumer and government fraud at unprecedented levels.

 

[delldude]

Nothing different than the Airline CEOs who got fired and rewarded.

 
Why stop at airline ceo's?

 

[Glenn Quagmire]

Are they the only ones?

There are others, but VW will be the face of this one. I have done extensive research for several papers on corporate ethics and scandals for my graduate work.

I will be following this one closely.

 

[delldude]

There are others, but VW will be the face of this one. I have done extensive research for several papers on corporate ethics and scandals for my graduate work.

I will be following this one closely.

 
Cool....
This programming thing....the Germans can't be the only ones in this day and age of IT tech.
And I bet there are similar instances in a bunch of other industries where internal programming of a chip can be used for certain results....whether good or detrimental.