Volkswagen Defeat Device Scandal

On January 4, 2016, on behalf of the United States Environment Protection Agency (EPA), the United States Department of Justice filed a civil case against Volkswagen AG (VW) for violating the Clean Air Act (CAA). The complaint alleged that VW had installed illegal defeat devices in about 600,000 of its diesel vehicles in the US which impaired EPS’s emission test system and that VW’s vehicles actually produced higher emissions than the legally approved limit in US. This not only resulted in harmful air pollution but was responsible for killing people prematurely. John C. Cruden, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, said, “The United States will pursue all appropriate remedies against Volkswagen to redress the violations of our nation’s clean air laws alleged in the complaint.” The civil suit was in line with EPA’s two Notices of Violation (NOV) issued to VW on September 18, 2015, for its 2.0 liter engines and on November 2, 2015, for certain of its 3.0 liter engines. After the first NOV, the then Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of VW, Dr. Martin Winterkorn (Winterkorn), said, “Millions of people across the world trust our brands, our cars and our technologies…I am endlessly sorry that we have disappointed this trust. I apologize in every way to our customers, to authorities and the whole public for the wrongdoing.”... ..