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Volkswagen's Internal Investigation Has Acquired 50 Witnesses

Volkswagen's internal investigation has finished gathering witnesses for its own probe regarding the Dieselgate scandal.
Volkswagen Building 1 photo
Photo: Volkswagen
Until the deadline, around 50 Volkswagen employees came forward to testify about their involvement in the Dieselgate scandal, AFP reports. These employees will be protected from any damage claims or job loss unless they are top-ranking executives in the company.

Therefore, the folks in charge at Volkswagen were thoughtful for the "little guys" in the company, who had to do as they were told by their bosses and ended up developing the so-called "Defeat Device" used by 11 million vehicles to cheat on emission tests.

In case you've been living in a cave during the past two months, Volkswagen's Dieselgate scandal emerged in the USA after an independent probe discovered that the 2.0 TDI engines of the EA 189 series emitted copious amounts of nitrous oxides in real world driving.

The Defeat Device worked by figuring out that the vehicle was being tested for emissions and switched to a different injection map to achieve optimal results. When the test was over, the car would switch back to the "dirty mode," where it traded the stated emissions for better fuel economy and performance. While this seems optimal for the owner, the nitrous oxides released into the Earth's atmosphere harm almost every living being on the planet.

Ultimately, the German company admitted to tampering with emissions in approximately 11 million vehicles sold worldwide. Furthermore, Volkswagen Group eventually admitted that it also understated carbon emissions for about 800,000 vehicles.

The cost of the nitrous oxide emissions caused by the 11 million Volkswagen-made vehicles is impossible to estimate. And so are the costs of removing DPF filters from diesel cars or de-catting exhausts by car enthusiasts anxious for performance on a budget.

This horrible situation has had consequences for the entire car industry and in several other unexpected areas. Carmakers and lawmakers alike have started thinking about slowly eliminating diesel engines from automobiles, adapting emissions testing to real-world driving conditions and planning solutions for emission-free driving.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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