Volkswagen is facing the greatest crisis of its history, with over 11 million diesel cars cheating heir carbon dioxide ratings to fit the standard. The initial scandal broke out when US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration noticed inconsistencies in the car’s emission tests, which later revealed that a special software had been put in their diesel cars to fake the figures to fit regulations.
The Volkswagen Board of Directors say that the company will have an even deeper plunge as employees speak out and claim that the deception is worse than reported, some even admitting that some non-diesel cars have the software used to cheat the emissions tests. This has put about $2.15 billion at risk in addition to the $7.2 billion that they’ve been fined already.
CO2 emissions in Volkswagen cars have been confirmed to have been manipulated since 2013, according to the Volkswagen Board, but it hadn’t been entirely intentional. An engineer confessed to the company that it was in order to amend an error made by technicians that could not be fixed by legal means otherwise, and that for fear of retribution, it was kept under wraps. This came when previous Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn ordered a 30% decrease in CO2 emissions on all Volkswagen diesel cars, and this must have been to steep a feat for engineers to achieve.
