Cummins rigged about 1 million Ram pickup trucks to cheat emissions

nsaspook said:

Some people just don't learn.

Bandersnatch said:

I wonder if this is another case of penalties being lower than what they earn by cheating.

They've sold a million dodgy cars, and were fined two billion. So, as long as they saved more than a couple grand on each engine by cheating the system the whole thing could still be profitable - and therefore incentivised.
I don't know if it's the case, but two grand per on a ~$40k vehicle doesn't seem like a terribly high bar to pass.

Vanadium 50 said:

Sort of. Cummins starred this in 2013, and VW happened in 2015.

A good question is "Well, why didn't they stop?"

A better question is "If management's position is 'we didn't know what was going oj - how do you expect us to understand that technical stuff?' why does top management consist so heavily of legal, marketing and finance people rather than engineering and production?"

VW says rogue engineers, not executives, responsible for emissions scandal​

jack action said:

I highly doubt this is about making money the easy way. It is most likely about keeping the company alive after failing to have a working design.

Imagine you have worked on a new design for a few years just to find out it doesn't work to the expectations. What do you do? You tell your customers and shareholders you will not sell engines for the next few years while you work on a new design? You will sell engines from your competitor in the meantime? This is a death warrant for the company in every case.

But if you cheat a little bit, it will end up costing you a little bit more in the end, but the company will survive until your next design is ready for market and PR will most likely be an easier problem to solve in the future. Better than closing the factory for sure. Everything is even better if you don't get caught!

In the way society works today, I'm pretty sure anyone would make a similar decision in such a case. To modify this behavior, we have to create a society where the wins and losses are better shared with everyone.

Bandersnatch said:

They've sold a million dodgy cars

nsaspook said:

Management? We all know who's really to blame.

View attachment 340521

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/10/volkswagen-pulls-2016-diesel-lineup-from-us-market/

VW says rogue engineers, not executives, responsible for emissions scandal​

Hornbein said:

The game is always the same. Set goals then don't ask questions about how they are reached.

Rogues have come a long way from the fifties and sixties, where they were marginalised into cheeky but loveable roles on the fringes of the economy; think George Cole as Arthur Daley.

You now find rogues occupying important roles in industry, finance and the public sector. But there is still “much to do” say leading rogues, as they continue to be blamed for many of societies ills.

From institutional racism in the police, to systematic greed in the banking sector, the finger is often pointed at a rogue.

And now VW, who find themselves engulfed by emissions test fixing scandals, are suggesting that rogues working as engineers at VW are to blame.

“We just do what they allow us to do,” writes an anonymous rogue in a book that promises to ” lift the lid ” on rogue culture, breaking their strict code of silence.

“Or we just do what everyone else is doing…but with a naughty glint in our eye, and a cheeky smile.”

However rogue community leaders have distanced themselves from the new book, dismissing it as the work of a rogue rogue.

Hornbein said:

The game is always the same. Set goals then don't ask questions about how they are reached.

Cummins did not admit to any wrongdoing in the Clean Air Act case, in which federal and California officials alleged the company had installed devices to bypass emissions tests on nearly a million Ram 2500 and 3500 pickup trucks produced from 2013 to 2023.

Vanadium 50 said:

How does a shareholder sue the company? They are the company!