VW: small group of engineers did it

[supton]

Ok, the title of the article is "small group of engineers began working on cheat in 2005" but whatever.

Link

Quote:
A small group of Volkswagen engineers began working as early as 2005 on emissions cheating software after they were unable to find a technical solution to U.S. emissions controls as the automaker pushed into the North American market, executives said Thursday.


Quote:
External auditors have already gone through 102 terabytes of data, which he said was the equivalent of 50 million books.

 

[Astro14]

Bring forth the scapegoats....

Someone had to approve this...and it wasn't those engineers.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Astro14
Bring forth the scapegoats....

Someone had to approve this...and it wasn't those engineers.

Yup.

Someone above them must have said "You are going to find a solution, and I don't care how you do it."

 

[wemay]

Absolutely agree with the last two posters.

 

[Rand]

let the butt-covering commence. Then 6 months from now one of the people thrown under the bus brings out THEIR copies of emails etc.

lighting the fire again.

 

[CT8]

Those pesky engineers.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Rand
Then 6 months from now one of the people thrown under the bus brings out THEIR copies of emails etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if they will be well compensated under the table to keep their mouths shut in order to protect the higher- ups.

Let's see if this is going to remain within the boundaries of VAG, or if some of these engineers will have to testify before the court, in which case one of them might spill the beans.

 

[440Magnum]

Translation: we're going to sacrifice a few engineers and protect management.

And would you like to bet that those engineers in 2005 begged and pleaded with management for more budget, but were told do just make it happen. Typical "Pointy-haired Boss" management style. "Its not impossible, it can't be impossible because I told you to do it."

 

[HerrStig]

Here's your bus, but you're not getting on....

 

[Nate1979]

Is it really a small #? From the article:
9 Managers suspended so far
400 under investigation
2000 told not to delete files

Looks like more than just a few to me. How many engineers work for those 9 managers?

Also interesting they admit at one pouint they had the technical solution but decided not to use it. Who made that decision?

 

[wemay]

This would make an interesting book.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
And would you like to bet that those engineers in 2005 begged and pleaded with management for more budget, but were told do just make it happen.

It sure appears that way...

Quote:

GREENE: So are officials at VW saying anything about how this cheating actually came about?

YDSTIE: Yes, for the first time, VW officials outlined what they believe happened. And it aligns with what many news outlets, including NPR, reported. They said started with a decision to launch this major diesel car campaign in the U.S. But VW developers couldn't figure out how to meet U.S. emissions standards within the timeline and budget they'd been given, so they developed this software defeat device. Then later, they developed technology to make the engine cleaner by adding a liquid called AdBlue to the exhaust. But it wasn't implemented because it would have required owners of the cars to bring their cars in for maintenance more often. They thought that would put customers off. So VW officials continued to maintain the whole plot was hatched and closely held among a small group of engineers. We'll see if that holds up as the investigation goes forward.

http://www.npr.org/2015/12/10/459200141/compensation-to-vw-owners-will-include-loss-of-resale-value

 

[mmavet]

Were going to throw a few employees under the bus............

""the investigation has so far analyzed data from laptops, phones and other devices from 400 employees. More than 2,000 have been informed in writing that they cannot delete any data in case it becomes relevant to the investigation, he said.""

First we'll destroy any of your information that will incriminate us higher ups!
Then we will know how to spin are web of lies.

This could get ugly for VW if those engineers refuse to go along with this corporate scam.

 

[pottymouth]

Originally Posted By: Astro14
Bring forth the scapegoats....

Someone had to approve this...and it wasn't those engineers.


Agreed, but that someone could not have accomplished the deception without the complicity of the engineers and others. I left a job once because I was being pressured to do things that I was not comfortable with. If I stayed and compromised my own ethics to protect my job, I would no longer have been able to claim I was innocent.

If someone was working on some small part of the project and truly unaware of the way their work would be used, I feel for them. Otherwise, I hope that everyone involved gets what they deserve. Those that I truly feel sorry for are all those other employees and suppliers who has absolutely no direct connection to the problem that will suffer job loss or income reduction due to the impact of the scandal.

 

[bubbatime]

The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round....

 

[Pontual]

The problem with fictious impersonation or enterprise by companies is that it increase profits while decreases liability and responsibility by dilution and scapegoats.

 

[Win]

They trotted that trial balloon out at the congressional testimony of the US boss.

No one believed it then ( including him ) and it's inconceivable to me that anyone would believe it now.

The Germans, who are methodical and precise to a fault, suddenly turned into a bunch of dolts that didn't know how their own cars ( didn't ) work?

They must think we're the stupid ones. if they're going to stick to that kind of obfuscation, they can expect an administrative hammering.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: pottymouth
Originally Posted By: Astro14
Bring forth the scapegoats....

Someone had to approve this...and it wasn't those engineers.


Agreed, but that someone could not have accomplished the deception without the complicity of the engineers and others.



Oh, I have no doubt that engineers did the dirty deed. Managers couldn't figure out what to cheat on, much less how to do it. And its possible for engineers to do something like this without management figuring it out... but here's the thing: engineers, by and large, WILL NOT do things like that UNLESS they've been put in a 'no way out' situation by incompetent management.

Does that forgive them? No, they should have found other employment under managers who understood the art of the possible and how it correlates to the budget provided... but that's awful easy to say and much harder to do when you're trying to support a family. But the point is: even if the engineers came up with the idea on their own, management should be held accountable for tasking them to do the impossible and putting them in a situation where cheat or quit were the only available choices.

It really steams my shorts to see management talking about a problem being 'confined to a small group of engineers' and implying that there's no management culpability at all...

 

[GiveMeAVowel]

The thing most folks miss is that this type of business model is an American one. Things starting going sour for VW when they started practicing it. It's all about shareholders, and increasing profit to ludicrous levels.

 

[Pontual]

Mad competition. Current economic regimen (*lism) is good in creating problems and really bad on solving them.