9.1: Dieselgate
- Page ID
- 209743
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In the spring of 2013, graduate students from West Virginia University's Center for Alternative Fuels Engines and Emissions road-tested three Volkswagens on California freeways.
The back end of their cars...sprouted a tangle of pipes and hoses. Flexible tubes sucked exhaust from the tailpipes and fed the gas into a mysterious gray box sitting on a slab of plywood in the car’s cargo area. Bolted to the plywood was the portable generator needed to power the whole mess. It stank and made an infernal racket (Ewing).
The WVU team was perplexed. The cars' emissions of nitrogen oxides, which cause asthma, bronchitis, heart attacks, and contribute to smog and global warming, were irregular – despite Volkswagen's claim that their cars were "clean diesel." Volkswagen promotional materials claimed that its diesel vehicles have low emissions and that "they reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions by 90 percent and have fewer such emissions than gasoline cars" ("FTC Charges"). It was later established that some Volkswagens emitted as much as 40 times the legal limit of pollution (Chappell)!
Ultimately, the work of the WVU students blew open one of the largest corporate scandals in history. Volkswagen had intentionally installed "defeat devices" that were programmed to defeat emissions tests by activating emissions controls only during emissions testing conditions. When the cars were not in testing conditions, they were spewing pollutants. The scandal cost Volkswagen over $30 billion dollars and seven current and former employees were charged with crimes connected to the scandal (Eisenstein). Volkswagen's reputation took a major hit, and the carmaker lost the trust of regulators and its customers.
"The company which had once proclaimed the importance of resource conservation, climate protection and emissions reduction was publicly vilified for lacking the very values that it prided itself in. Caught red-handed, the future of Volkswagen was cast under a dark shadow of doubt. At best its reputation was in tatters, at worst its continued existence was in question. Almost a third of the company’s market value was wiped out in less than a week (Rhodes).
The Volkswagen Dieselgate scandal is a case study in unethical advertising and illegal business practices; however, antisocial persuasion goes far beyond the realm of commercial advertising and business. Unfortunately, we find antisocial persuasion in many places, including politics, personal relationships, social media, email phishing scams, fake news, and other arenas.