VW Claims Emissions Scandal was Overlooked Due to “Culture” of Tolerance

Volkswagen badge (Credit: Volkswagen)

The Volkswagen emissions scandal just keeps on getting weirder. Initially, VW blamed the entire issue on a handful of “rogue” engineers, but the EPA and CARB were not buying it. Now, VW has changed its tune and is blaming a higher-reaching culture for tolerating this cheating.

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Instead of pointing at one single mistake, VW is now acknowledging that “a chain of errors that was never broken” was what resulted in the cheating device. Once engineers found that they couldn’t come up with a way to make the new EA 189 engine meet tight NOx regulations in the U.S. within budget and on time, they knew the only choices left were to cheat, delay the engine’s release, or cancel the EA 189 altogether. The employees and obviously some executives opted for the cheating route, hoping no one ever figured it out.

VW continues working on a retrofit that’ll make the EA 189 engine meet the U.S.’s tight regulations, which are far stricter than those in Europe, but no fix is currently in sight. Despite the challenge put before the automaker, Volkswagen currently has no plans to buy back any EA 189-equipped vehicles, but this could change if it continues to struggle to find a fix.

Once VW finally comes up with a fix, it has to present it to the EPA and CARB for testing before it can announce and roll out the patch.

We’ll continue to monitor this maze of excuses and non-answers until VW comes up with a resolution. Keep it locked here for all of the latest info.