Live data from Hacker News

VW engineer pleads guilty to diesel emissions scandal

detroitnews.com

31–40 of 156 posts

Re: VW engineer pleads guilty to diesel emissions scandal

#31

Given the minimal information in this article you cant help but wonder if this is a blatant attempt at designating someone to take the fall for a larger conspiracy, or if higher-level indictments are on the way. At a company like VW decisions like this are never made at the engineering level.

I don't know really what the legal penalty would be, but I can see why someone might take the fall for a company if the company offered some big incentives.

Re: VW engineer pleads guilty to diesel emissions scandal

#33

Given the minimal information in this article you cant help but wonder if this is a blatant attempt at designating someone to take the fall for a larger conspiracy, or if higher-level indictments are on the way. At a company like VW decisions like this are never made at the engineering level.

>decisions like this are never made at the engineering level. True, but the law has long held an obligation to "fall on your sword" disobeying illegal orders, even if it comes at great personal cost. See the lack of success of the "just following orders" defense at the Nuremberg trials.

With that logic you can blame a sales man for selling the car to a customer who planed to drive it in the US.

There is a undefined line between following orders and following the law.

The sales man does not know that it is illegal to sell the car. It is his own responsibility to not commit crimes. To not commit crimes one must know the definition of what a crime is. That definition can be found in the law book. In the Law book one can find that the car in question is illegal to sell.

It would be very hard for him to find that information but it is still his responsibility.

Re: VW engineer pleads guilty to diesel emissions scandal

#37
post #30

Given the minimal information in this article you cant help but wonder if this is a blatant attempt at designating someone to take the fall for a larger conspiracy, or if higher-level indictments are on the way. At a company like VW decisions like this are never made at the engineering level.

It contains the complete 16-page plea agreement in it. I think that's pretty satisfactory. In summation, the defendant is looking a 5 years prison and $250,000 in fines, as the defendants representation agrees the charges rate at least that much, plus possible restitution to any identified victims, but the court may agree that if he testifies fully and willingly it will be reduced. So yes, it looks like there's a wid…

Thanks for pulling that out. I'm hoping these charges are just to squeeze him into testifying, building a bigger case against executives, and the sentence (prison especially) will be substantially reduced. He committed serious crimes but I have trouble believing he was a ringleader.

Re: VW engineer pleads guilty to diesel emissions scandal

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>decisions like this are never made at the engineering level. True, but the law has long held an obligation to "fall on your sword" disobeying illegal orders, even if it comes at great personal cost. See the lack of success of the "just following orders" defense at the Nuremberg trials.

With that logic you can blame a sales man for selling the car to a customer who planed to drive it in the US. There is a undefined line between following orders and following the law. The sales man does not know that it is illegal to sell the car. It is his own responsibility to not commit crimes. To not commit crimes one must know the definition of what a crime is. That definition can be found in the law book. In th…

Selling something you didn't know was illegally polluting is a large distance away, legally, from designing the system specifically designed to break the law.

Re: VW engineer pleads guilty to diesel emissions scandal

#39

This feels a bit like the guy on Better Off Ted who always gets paid to admit fault, claim he has a drug problem, and then go to rehab so the company can move on blame-free.

Dr. Bamba!

That show was so spot on for corporate culture.

Re: VW engineer pleads guilty to diesel emissions scandal

#40
Really, the engineer is the fall guy. Yes he's at fault but what kind of QA system does a billion dollar car company have that one person carried on a sham for decades. No way he was alone! Top management needs to be grilled on what really happened. At the very least the VP of the division that manged the emission controls for the company needs to be charged with some felony. I bet that If he would have said something early on he would have been called a hero. Now he's a felon. This is a real learning moment for us techies. If you see something illegal, report it to the proper authorities and run don't walk out of the company. Companies will find a scapegoat to blame. "Hey you seem like a good choice as any," be ready for it.
Post reply on HN