The Volkwagen scandal that shook up the global automotive industry surfaced a week ago. The fraud was uncovered by a group of researchers at West Virginia University while working under a less-than-adequate grant of $50,000, reported The Atlantic.
A group of researchers received a small grant from the International Council of Clean Transportation to do performance testing on diesel cars. The group headed by Arvind Thiruvengadam undertook the research analyzing clean diesel cars. The cars were tested for fuel emissions outside the lab and the data was published in a journal.
The scientists unfolded one of the biggest frauds to have occurred in the automotive industry, reported The Atlantic. They found discrepancies up to 35 times the expected emissions levels during the testing but were not sure. Now, the group itself remains surprised at the fallout of their findings that were published nearly a year and half ago.
Later California Air Resource Board (CARB) also found similar discrepancies and questioned Volkswagon's pollution record. The Environmental Protection Agency detected illegal devices made to find a loophole around accurate emissions testing. And Volkswagen was asked to recall nearly half a million vehicles sold.
VW insisted to CARB and EPA that the shortfalls in emissions quality was due to technical errors and not a deliberate avoidance of regulations. However, when EPA insisted that it will not approve VW 2016 clean diesel cars, the company accepted the findings.
The company has appointed Porsche Chief Matthias Mueller to take over the reins. It also stated that there are close to 11 million vehicles across the world that would need to be checked and it has allocated $7.2 billion funds to fix the problem, said First Post.
There are more than 30 class-action lawsuits pending in United States alone where in customers bought VW car believing them to fuel efficient cars with low emission technology. The falsified technology in these cars ended in low resale value. There are more cases pending in Canada as well, said The Atlantic.
