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Volkswagen Scandal

The student parking lot is full of different types of cars. There are Toyotas, Chevrolets, and Hondas. However, diesel fueled Volkswagens are something to look out for. These ‘fuel-efficient’ cars have become a hot topic for the recent scandal its makers have been involved in.
Volkswagen, well known for its “clean” diesel fueled vehicles, has admitted to cheating on emission tests meant to regulate the amount of air pollution in vehicles in the United States. According to CNBC, Volkswagen installed “defeat devices” in the electronic control module of diesel vehicles, which can sense when emission tests were in progress, and initiate a “test mode,” in which the car appears to meet the standards needed for the assessment. Once the emission test ends, the car will revert to its original function and release 10 to 40 times the federal standard of nitrogen oxide, according to the EPA.
Volkswagen CEO, Matthias Muller spoke at a works meeting in October, making no excuses to the employees. “We can and will overcome this crisis, because Volkswagen is a group with a strong foundation,” Muller promised, according to the Volkswagen website. However, things are not looking to good for the Volkswagen company, which has already withdrawn its application for the sale of diesel fueled vehicles in America for the 2016 model year. According to Volkswagen chief executive Michael Horn, these “defeat devices” were not endorsed by the company as a whole. “This was a couple of software engineers who put this in for whatever reason. To my understanding this was not a corporate decision. This was something individuals did,” he claimed, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Volkswagen has set aside about $7.3 billion to cover the costs of the scandal and the subsequent damage it has caused. Muller promised that all affected cars in Germany would be fixed by the end of 2016, but no clear deadline has been made for cars affected in the United States, reported by CNN.
Muller reassures diesel Volkswagen owners, as expressed on the Volkswagen website, that, “At no time was the safety of our customers compromised.” While diesel vehicles did cheat on the emissions test, the “defeat devices” did not affect any other major function of the vehicle. Even though some reassurance is offered from Volkswagen, the company remains in controversy.

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