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VW engineer pleads guilty to diesel emissions scandal

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Re: VW engineer pleads guilty to diesel emissions scandal

#71
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Leader of diesel competence" -- that sounds like one of those generated Silicon Valley job titles you get off of: http://siliconvalleyjobtitlegenerator.tumblr.com/ It turns out "VW almost exclusively promotes their engineers to managers."

"NO2 hacker"

Well technically...

Re: VW engineer pleads guilty to diesel emissions scandal

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to play devil's advocate, maybe the requirements really are way over the line. In that case I wouldn't hold any grudges. Just because something is classified a felony doesn't mean it's morally wrong. Edit: To clarify, I'm not suggesting this guy taking the dive for the execs is ok, just that someone lying about emission test results may not be as horrible as they're trying to make it sound.

The emissions standards are already a dangerous compromise; we should have been making hard decisions about emissions 20, even 30, years ago...they've gotten stricter because they were disastrously lenient in the past, and we see the results of it. The reasons someone lying about emissions tests are really as bad is it sounds: - If one manufacturer lies, other manufacturers are forced to either lie, or lose customers…

Emissions standards are too lenient? They are too strict if anything. They are as strict as they are mainly because the manufacturers want them that way. It's the best way to keep smaller competitors out of the market and it looks like you're being a good guy to the consumer and environment in the process.

Re: VW engineer pleads guilty to diesel emissions scandal

#74
post #46

This guy isn't the "fall guy" or just a poor engineer hung out to try instead of an exec, he deserves to go to prison based on the material facts of his plea: 1) He was the central figure in engineering the device. 2) He understood exactly what he was doing and made repeated efforts to perpetuate the lie to the government and EPA. 3) He led efforts to damage control and roll out an update to consumers under the guise…

What about this would back your claim that he isn't a fall guy? Whether he exclusively decided to cheat or not, there are still people that could have stopped him. This is for media attention. It might be VW or it might be someone else that is making this "scandal" go on. Besides, VW itself is a fall guy; other companies are also doing some odd stuff: http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-technology/a29293/v...

Re: VW engineer pleads guilty to diesel emissions scandal

#75
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Do you really think VW salespeople should go to jail for this? Should salespeople do their own emissions testing? Should they all buy multiple versions of the same car and crash it to see if it's really safe? How does that system work? VW has a clear set of emissions rules to follow because they build the cars, why should the salespeople be on the hook? This isn't Tesla, VW salespeople don't even work for VW.

"One man's modus ponens is another man's modus tollens"

He's proposing a Reductio Ad Absurdum argument, implying strict adherence to the "fall on the sword" principle causes prosecution of salespeople.

Because there's an implication, if you accept his argument, then you either reject strict adherence to the principle(modus tollens) or accept prosecution of the salespeople(modus ponens).

You interpreted his comment as accepting prosecution of the salespeople, but I believe he intended you to conclude rejection of strict adherence to the principle.

Re: VW engineer pleads guilty to diesel emissions scandal

#76
post #46

This guy isn't the "fall guy" or just a poor engineer hung out to try instead of an exec, he deserves to go to prison based on the material facts of his plea: 1) He was the central figure in engineering the device. 2) He understood exactly what he was doing and made repeated efforts to perpetuate the lie to the government and EPA. 3) He led efforts to damage control and roll out an update to consumers under the guise…

Yes, he's guilty but get the rest of the crooks too.

This brings Enron to mind. Yes the accountants did all the bookkeeping and they are guilty but the fraud was run from the executive suite.

What this guy did was a result of what the executives wanted not the initiator. Not just that, it went on and on and on...

To me, it's irritating that the 1st person to make the news is the engineer when clearly he's just part of the scandal. He probably had the least to spend on attorneys so he was the first to fall.

Re: VW engineer pleads guilty to diesel emissions scandal

#77
post #46

This guy isn't the "fall guy" or just a poor engineer hung out to try instead of an exec, he deserves to go to prison based on the material facts of his plea: 1) He was the central figure in engineering the device. 2) He understood exactly what he was doing and made repeated efforts to perpetuate the lie to the government and EPA. 3) He led efforts to damage control and roll out an update to consumers under the guise…

Yes, he's guilty but get the rest of the crooks too. This brings Enron to mind. Yes the accountants did all the bookkeeping and they are guilty but the fraud was run from the executive suite. What this guy did was a result of what the executives wanted not the initiator. Not just that, it went on and on and on... To me, it's irritating that the 1st person to make the news is the engineer when clearly he's just part o…

The 2008 financial crisis destroyed millions of hard workings people's retirement savings, jobs, and recent college graduates hopes of finding a job. No one went to jail over that. This is clearly a case of someone not having the right lawyers and political connections as engineers are people who actually create value as is often the case they can be successful without those two.

Re: VW engineer pleads guilty to diesel emissions scandal

#78
post #46

This guy isn't the "fall guy" or just a poor engineer hung out to try instead of an exec, he deserves to go to prison based on the material facts of his plea: 1) He was the central figure in engineering the device. 2) He understood exactly what he was doing and made repeated efforts to perpetuate the lie to the government and EPA. 3) He led efforts to damage control and roll out an update to consumers under the guise…

> This guy isn't the "fall guy" or just a poor engineer hung out to try instead of an exec, he deserves to go to prison based on the material facts of his plea:

Um, yeah, that case is so good that they needed a plea bargain ... um ... sure.

I really don't understand why this guy is signing a plea deal. This is a classic example of a case complicated enough that the jurors would almost certainly be unable to come to "beyond a reasonable doubt" (the standard for criminal charges in the US).

I wonder what's really going on.

Re: VW engineer pleads guilty to diesel emissions scandal

#79
post #44

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 somethin…

Note that this is also an American employee, and there is certainly still blame to assign at the head offices in Germany, to both technical employees and upper management. Figure I might as well ask it here: how does it happen in Germany? If you go on reddit, you get inundated every day with tales of how strong their unions and labor protections are, and how seriously they take professional ethics and accreditation.…

I suspect why it all happened is that emissions are invisible for the most part so it's easy to not see it as a big deal.

It's just regulations getting in the way.

The reality is that people's health are effected by the emissions now and for some time to come. I bet early deaths can be attributed to the extra pollution these cars put out and all of it could have been avoided.

Re: VW engineer pleads guilty to diesel emissions scandal

#80
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really think VW salespeople should go to jail for this? Should salespeople do their own emissions testing? Should they all buy multiple versions of the same car and crash it to see if it's really safe? How does that system work? VW has a clear set of emissions rules to follow because they build the cars, why should the salespeople be on the hook? This isn't Tesla, VW salespeople don't even work for VW.

"One man's modus ponens is another man's modus tollens" He's proposing a Reductio Ad Absurdum argument, implying strict adherence to the "fall on the sword" principle causes prosecution of salespeople. Because there's an implication, if you accept his argument, then you either reject strict adherence to the principle(modus tollens) or accept prosecution of the salespeople(modus ponens). You interpreted his comment as…

Yes, thank you.

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Thank you for that piece of information. I did not know that it was called that. Very interesting.

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