Timeline Information From CAR AND DRIVER of Recalled Vehicles
Volkswagen Group created a program to falsify results on emissions tests. These “defeat devices”(BUSINESS INSIDER) were used in 11 million vehicles encompassing the U.S. and international countries according to CAR AND DRIVER. This program was used to make diesel vehicles seem environmentally friendlier (“TDI Clean Diesel”) than they were. In 2014, the EPA discovered the unethical practices. When not being tested, the vehicle would give off 40 times the legal limit of NOx. Three car brands are included in this RECALL: Audi, VW, and Porsche. VW is in even more trouble due to their researching similar cases and legal actions/consequences before choosing to commit the crime. According to BUSINESS INSIDER, Martin Winterkorn, CEO, is also in legal trouble because he assisted in hiding the problem. VW discontinued the production of TDI vehicles. Overall, this cost was $14.7 billion including a $10 billion cost of purchasing the recalled vehicles. For owners with a recalled vehicle, they can receive up to $44,000. So far, 340,000 drivers of the recalled vehicles have filled out the form to return their cars.
Six VW employees are being charged for their participation in the scandal. Also, VW owes another $4.3 billion in fines according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The six arrested are all from Germany and are being accused of multiple counts of fraud. The Deputy Attorney General stated: “This wasn’t simply the action of some faceless, multinational corporation. This conspiracy involved flesh-and-blood individuals who used their positions within Volkswagen to deceive both regulators and consumers”. (CNN)
What You Can Do
If you own one of these vehicles and do not want to sell your car back, you can get it fixed at no cost and get about $10,000 for loss of trade-in amount in the future. If you’re going to sell VW your car back, you only have until the end of March 2019. VW is trying to regain customers’ trust. For further research on what actions you can take, visit CONSUMER REPORTS.
The timeline above shows all the vehicles and model years that have been recalled. A list of all sites for images used will be at the bottom of the page. Below is a video from CNN about the history of what VW did to fix the problems.
