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VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

reuters.com

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Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

#201

Post by madez »

smnscu wrote: post #163
blubb-fish wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aww - come on Winterkorn is already punished enough - his company pension is dire 3100 Euro. [1] [1]: http://www.faz.net/aktuell/wirtschaft/unternehmen/ex-vw-chef...

Per day. For reference, that is €1,131,500 or $1,350,000 per year. > You’re in the top 0.007% richest people in the world by income. > That makes you the 428,441st richest person on earth by income. I'm really disappointed with Germany on this one, but it makes sense since VAG were buddy buddies with Merkel & co. since time immemorial (makes sense since it's a powerful force for the economy, still despicable). If you…

> If you kill a couple of people you go to jail or might even get executed. If you kill 1200+ you get early retired on a comfy stipend.

This falsely looks like a good point.

Cars kill a lot of people by virtue of accidents. Does that mean cars are a bad thing? You see, just because something inevitably kills people in practice it isn't automatically a bad thing. What you need to balance it with is the good it brings compared to the alternatives.

Your point makes a comparison between killing a couple of people for no good and the effect of cars and their exhaust.

Your point is bad.

Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

#202

Post by dboreham »

trapperkeeper74 wrote: post #187
jacquesm wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I stayed silent as I watched my colleagues lie through their teeth to the customer: claiming, for example, that a range of functions were already mature and in series production when in reality they were little more than vapourware at that point. I worked for a guy like that. When I finally decided to call it quits he got physical (chased me through the company premises with an iron bar, not kidding). Nowadays I wo…

As a consultant, I've seen these sorts of environments over and over... either as dying companies or companies struggling to compete at risk of dying. Any sort of business that isn't defensible, high necessity, timeless, cost-controlled and managed well has an ass-kickability factor. Plus, too many businesses engage in restaurant-grade commodification, internal political satisfaction and ego competion instead of inte…

Great post. As a consultant I've seen my share of shady stuff and plenty of privacy violations, tos violations and questionable security practice. Untill I see something actually illegal (hasn't happened yet) I have a policy of documenting what I see in writing to the management, along with why I think it is innapropriate or in need of fixing, and calling it good at that point.

Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

#203

Post by madez »

icebraining wrote: post #192
dom0 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That also answers why the German government is giving them some leeway here: it's not exactly in their interest to kill Volkswagen. While the federal government does not have a direct stake (apart from all the tax euros), the fine state of Lower Saxony holds a 20 % share (which actually causes the MP and his economics minister to always be on the board of directors).

Why would prosecuting the executives kill WV, though?

If VW is forced to make all regulations-breaching cars to be compliant and compensate the owner for down-time and loss in fuel-efficiency or performance, that might mean the end to VW. VW is touched softly, just like Intel, for example. I think both the car and the IC industries should be more regulated, and the regulations should be effectively enforced.

Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

#204

Post by jacquesm »

dboreham wrote: post #202
trapperkeeper74 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a consultant, I've seen these sorts of environments over and over... either as dying companies or companies struggling to compete at risk of dying. Any sort of business that isn't defensible, high necessity, timeless, cost-controlled and managed well has an ass-kickability factor. Plus, too many businesses engage in restaurant-grade commodification, internal political satisfaction and ego competion instead of inte…

Great post. As a consultant I've seen my share of shady stuff and plenty of privacy violations, tos violations and questionable security practice. Untill I see something actually illegal (hasn't happened yet) I have a policy of documenting what I see in writing to the management, along with why I think it is innapropriate or in need of fixing, and calling it good at that point.

What would you do if you did see something actually illegal? Asking for a friend.

Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

#205

Post by nebabyte »

w_t_payne wrote: post #183

The German automotive industry has a very aggressive culture. Our (German) managers put enormous pressure on us to do whatever it took to win deals. I can clearly remember watching one of our engineering managers turning a very unhealthy shade of green (~= #d2dbc9) as her boss turned the metaphorical screws to pressure her to win our segment's first big deal -- Ironically with VW as the customer. Shamefully, I stayed…

> managers turning a very unhealthy shade of green (~= #d2dbc9)

I love engineers. Though that said, that does sound like a very harsh situation to be in.

Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

#206

Post by icebraining »

madez wrote: post #203
icebraining wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would prosecuting the executives kill WV, though?

If VW is forced to make all regulations-breaching cars to be compliant and compensate the owner for down-time and loss in fuel-efficiency or performance, that might mean the end to VW. VW is touched softly, just like Intel, for example. I think both the car and the IC industries should be more regulated, and the regulations should be effectively enforced.

As far as I know, they did have to make the cars compliant. At least my colleague, who had an affected Skoda, got it "fixed" for free, including a temporary replacement car.

Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

#207

Post by vfclists »

What about the banksters from 2008? Inspite of trillion dollar frauds, money laundering and what nots no banker has been prosecuted.

Is it because the engineering companies do not bribe the legislature enough, or because there is no threat to the stability of the financial system if they are prosecuted?

The moral of the story is if you are going to engage in major fraud, make sure the economy will be seriously destabilized if you and your cronies are prosecuted.

Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

#209

Post by mjevans »

jacquesm wrote: post #204
dboreham wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great post. As a consultant I've seen my share of shady stuff and plenty of privacy violations, tos violations and questionable security practice. Untill I see something actually illegal (hasn't happened yet) I have a policy of documenting what I see in writing to the management, along with why I think it is innapropriate or in need of fixing, and calling it good at that point.

What would you do if you did see something actually illegal? Asking for a friend.

If it's actually illegal gather the evidence a prosecutor might need and use some method of whistle blowing. If your employer is a government you might end up a Snowden or worse though...

Re: VW engineering executive sentenced to 40-month prison term in diesel case

#210

Post by alkonaut »

icebraining wrote: post #206
madez wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If VW is forced to make all regulations-breaching cars to be compliant and compensate the owner for down-time and loss in fuel-efficiency or performance, that might mean the end to VW. VW is touched softly, just like Intel, for example. I think both the car and the IC industries should be more regulated, and the regulations should be effectively enforced.

As far as I know, they did have to make the cars compliant. At least my colleague, who had an affected Skoda, got it "fixed" for free, including a temporary replacement car.

If there was a demand that the "fixed" cars were actually tested and were now under the limit while not losing more than say 5% in economy or power (or else owners would have to be compensated) it would likely find that the cars fail one or more of these requirements.

I believe it's now a middle ground: cars lost "only" about 5-10% performance/fuel eco, and they are still only half way to the NOx limit.

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