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El Reg reports
Former engineer James Robert Liang took a plea deal with the US federal government to cooperate with its ongoing investigation of how the German car maker cheated American emissions tests and passed off its "clean diesel" engines as meeting state and government clean air standards.
While VW executives have claimed that the use of a defeat device to artificially limit emissions during tests was the work of a "couple of software engineers", Liang's plea deal shows that the conspiracy dates back roughly a decade and has roots in the team that designed the engines.
In other words, Liang claims the design team was in on it, not just a couple of bad apples.
Liang told the government that in 2006, engineers knew the EA 189 diesel engine would not be able to meet clean air emission standards on its own. Rather than attempt to redesign the engine, he and other members of the design team deliberately cheated the testing system.
[...] He said that the device was used to get the clean air certification on VW's "clean diesel" models from 2009 to 2016, and that the group continued to lie about the emissions output of the engines even after the US government began its investigation.
Previous: VW Engineer Pleads Guilty in Diesel Cheating Scandal
(Score: 3, Insightful) by GungnirSniper on Tuesday September 13 2016, @06:36PM
Right, %pet_issue% justifies armed agents of the state to detain and cage people because we need to %send_msg% about %pet_issue% because of %moral_outrage%. And that also requires %extrajudicial_measure% because %moral_outrage%.
Of course, no armed agent of the state would ever use %tenuous_reason% to abuse their authority, because any right-thinking person is against %moral_outrage%.
Shall we shoot loud motorcyclists on sight as well?
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(Score: 5, Informative) by Grishnakh on Tuesday September 13 2016, @07:08PM
Don't be stupid. The people are intentionally emitting dangerous pollution into the worst place possible: right in front of other peoples' cars (and pedestrians), forcing them to breathe it. Particulate pollution is immediately dangerous to human health (unlike most other types, which are much more indirect). It's basically like someone forcing you to breathe the smoke from an entire cigarette all at once.
I have no problem with using armed agents of the state to put a stop to this kind of behavior. If you want to breathe a bunch of dangerous smoke, do it on your own. Force me to do it and I feel I have every right to use violence to protect myself from your assault.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 13 2016, @10:28PM
Gugger could not have picked a worse behavior to defend with short-sighted libertarian arguments.
Not only is "rolling coal" directly harmful to anyone in the vicinity, it is all just insecure white men feeling emasculated because the world is changing and they aren't able to keep up. Ordinarily they would be deserving of empathy, but not only are they unwilling to help themselves, they think that being destructive isn't just their best option, its their right.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14 2016, @03:56PM
That's racist, I have personally seen other "races" than "whites" roll coal.
I don't know why you are bigoted against white males, others are capable of being assholes as well.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14 2016, @04:56PM
i don't argue that one should accept being "coal rolled" but you have the right to pull up and open fire on the perpetrator. no state henchmen need be involved.
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Thursday September 15 2016, @02:15AM
Most people doing this "crime" are doing it away from population centers, so the impact is insufficient to justify forfeiture or worse.
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday September 15 2016, @02:43PM
Population centers and density are irrelevant, only the exhaust concentration right where nearby people are, breathing it in. These assholes do it directly in front of other cars and cyclists and pedestrians. They deserve to be shot on sight, just like anyone who intentionally tries to harm the health of another human being.
How'd you like it if someone forced you to breathe in a bunch of asbestos dust? Maybe that should be the punishment, along with an exemption for health insurance companies so they don't have to cover it, leaving these assholes to die slowly of mesothelioma.
(Score: 5, Funny) by bob_super on Tuesday September 13 2016, @08:01PM
> Shall we shoot loud motorcyclists on sight as well?
Only with silencers, obviously...
(Score: 2, Insightful) by watusimoto on Wednesday September 14 2016, @07:58AM
In this case, the vehicle is the instrument of the crime. Of course it could be seized.