| Topic: | Who knew what Volkswagen was doing? | |
| Posted by: | Dan Murphy | |
| Date/Time: | 23/09/15 05:47:00 |
| I have always argued against "conspiracy theories" on the simple basis that it is hardly possible for so many people to be involved in something so big, and yet for it still to be kept a secret. Looking at this Volkswagen scandal, it would seem that they have been putting a parallel ("common rail") fuel injection system into about 11 million cars, and they have been doing this since 2009. I am no car engineer, but surely someone had to come up with the idea in the first place; get a development budget signed off by the Board; make this new system; retool the production process; and train the factories in how to install it. Surely engineers and factory workers would spot they were putting two injection systems into a car that needed only one? Volkswagen employs 50,000 people at its main facility in Wolfsburg, so this is a huge operation. I can''t help wonderring how many must have known this was going on. And yet it was only due to eagle eyed engineers at the ICCT and West Virginia University, who noticed the discrepancies in emissions under "real world" and "test" conditions, that Volkswagen were forced to admit to what they had been up to. Had it not been for those testing engineers, it seems like Volkswagen would have carried on for years. Of course, their CEO Martin Winterhorn says he had no idea any of this was happening, but it seems unlikely that such a significant change to engine manufacturing could have been authorised without Board approval. Someone who knows about car engineering will probably correct me. |