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German Court Jails Volkswagen Execs Over Dieselgate Scandal
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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story [theregister.com]:
Germany’s Braunschweig Regional Court has reportedly sentenced four Volkswagen executives to jail over “Dieselgate” – the 2015 scandal in which the automaker was found to have fudged software used to test its vehicles’ pollution emissions.
The matter concerned nitrogen oxide emissions, which software installed by Volkswagen rated as low enough to comply with environmental laws. Independent tailpipe testing produced different results, leading the USA’s Environmental Protection Agency to claim the German auto giant had violated clean air laws.
Volkswagen staff admitted [theregister.com] to a conspiracy to fudge emission results, the company pled guilty [theregister.com] and paid substantial fines [theregister.com] and recalled around 11 million cars.
In 2019 German authorities charged four execs of the matter, and Braunschweig Regional Court decided one of the resulting cases on Monday.
German media [www.ndr.de] reports [www.bild.de] explain that four VW execs were jailed for between 15 and 54 months, with the judge finding all knowingly contributed to the scandal.
The trial ran for almost four years, saw over 150 witnesses take the stand and the court sit for over 170 days. This is not the end of the matter because cases against another 31 defendants remain on the books of German courts. Another case, against Martin Winterkorn, the former CEO of Volkswagen AG, remains stalled due to his age and ill health.
Dieselgate also claimed execs at Audi [theregister.com] and Nissan [theregister.com].
In an unrelated 2022 incident, Toyota-owned truck brand Hino admitted [theregister.com] to have reported inaccurate emissions data for 20 years.
Software continued to bedevil Volkswagen, which showed CEO Herbert Diess the door in 2022 after his efforts to turn around the company’s software unit stalled.
