Volkswagen facing further consequences following emissions scandal
Volkswagen is set to continue paying a heavy price for its illicit activities surrounding environmental regulation in America. Yesterday the German automaker agreed to pay a $4.3 billion settlement in civil and criminal fines—the largest ever to be levied against an automaker on US soil—while six of its high-ranking employees have been indicted by the federal government.
The company's indiscretions date back over a decade, to when it made the decision to cheat US emissions tests after realizing that its models wouldn't comply with the standards that were being implemented for 2007. To avoid detection, Volkswagen installed software in its diesel-engine-powered vehicles that could activate pollution controls during government tests and later turn them off once they were on the market and being used. This software has reportedly allowed the cars in question to emit nitrogen oxide at up to 40 times the legal limit.
Before this most recent penalization, Volkswagen had already come to a $15 billion civil settlement with American car owners and environmental authorities, which would go towards repairing and buying back many of its non-compliant vehicles.
Interestingly, this scandal only came to light because of research being done in a small West Virginia University lab. The lab workers had been hired by a non-profit called The International Council on Clean Transportation to perform standard emissions tests on American diesel cars. Going into the project they expected their work to be acknowledged by a miniscule group of people at best; instead it launched the discovery of a decade-long scandal that has irrevocably damaged the reputation of one of the world's largest automakers.