Volkswagen

Volkswagen 2015 Scandal

In 2015, Volkswagen was sued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its
unethical conduct. According to EPA, Volkswagen reportedly had installed a defeat software in
most of their diesel engine cars, which would detect gas emission tests and manipulate
performance, improving the outcome. Following the lawsuit, the company agreed to have
cheated on its emission tests in the United States of America (USA) (Shepardson, 2016).
Evidence provided by EPA indicated that the company emitted up to 40 times the permitted
emission limits. In total, 11 million cars were found to contain the software. In the USA alone,
findings from EPA indicate that 482,000 cars had similar issues, including Volkswagen (VW)
versions Passat, Golf, Beetle, Jetta, and the Volkswagen-manufactured Audi A3 (Shepardson,
2016). The company lost $25 billion in fines and $1.77 in operating loss that year. Even though it
was solved, the lawsuit represented one of the largest civil settlements ever made on a global
scale, especially, in the automotive industry, on an accusation of misconduct (Shepardson, 2016).
The company further agreed to settle with the owners of the previously highlighted models, who
added up to about 490,000 persons (Shepardson, 2016). Many owners had multiple vehicles. The
process involved buying backs of the vehicles from the owners. Additionally, this experience not
only spoiled the company's reputation but also leads to the expulsion of the company’s CEO.
Nonetheless, the sanctions VW received against its unethical conduct served as a good example
for the rest of the first that are not ready to conform to legal policies on corporate social
responsibilities. In essence, Volkswagen’s negligence and unwillingness to integrate the
concepts of corporate social responsibilities into its systems led to its 2015 sanctions, which,
in other words, depicts the need to fit in law and legal actions into businesses that lack
ethical corporate practices

VOLKSWAGEN 2015 SCANDAL 3

References

Shepardson, D. (2016, October 25). U.S. judge approves $14.7 billion deal in VW diesel scandal.
U.S. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-volkswagen-emissions-idUSKCN12P22F