Volkswagen Vehicle Pollutant Emission Scandal

Volkswagen vehicle pollutant emission scandal

Introduction

Volkswagen is a German manufacturer’s German company, the meaning of the name of this brand is "the people’s car". This company with just over 80 years in car production has been put as one of the leading companies in the world market, but not everything has been good for this company, because in 2015 this company fell into a big ethical problem andof social responsibility due to the installation of software in their vehicles that had TDI 2 engines.0 Diesel, which were not only vehicles of the Volkswagen brand, but also were Audi and Porsche, which also belong to the Volkswagen Group, the function that this software fulfilled was to fool with false results in the test emissions tests producedFor some cars models of the aforementioned brands, this tests when performed with the software operating very good data in relation to the contamination produced by each car, but when these measurements were made without the software these emissions were affected from10 to 40 times more than the law allowed.

Volkswagen review

Volkswagen is a leading German company in the automotive market, currently the Volkswagen Group is in second place of total vehicles worldwide, it is only surpassed by the Toyota group.

This company was founded in the 30s’ and was promoted in 1933 by Adolf Hitler who made large government investments to this company so that German factories could be at the same time with what England and France produced at that time, producing bass carscost.

The first car that Volkswagen manufactured was the KDF-Wagen better known as "Beetle" which began to be produced on December 27, 1945.

This company was affected by the Second World War, after all these events that detached from the war the German factory could continue producing.

The following years Volkswagen continued to produce in a normal way without having a great impact on the market, until 1972 because the amount of cars sold by the German company reached 15 million cars manufactured, thus Volkswagen displaced Ford that was the one that was the one that was the one that was the one that was the one that was the oneBefore he had that record with his Ford Model T, in the following years Volkswagen took the golf, Passat, Polo models, among others. In 2002, the Volkswagen Golf exceeds "beetle" in number of vehicles sold.

In 2012 Volkswagen sold 5.700.000 cars in the world, thanks to this that year they sold a 12.7% of the total cars sold on the planet.

With all the trajectory that Volkswagen already carried until the 2000s, factories could be expanded and opened on the five continents, here in South America Volkswagen has factories in Argentina and Brazil, being in Brazil where the golf continues to produce the most sold model by the company.

After his great trajectory Volkswagen was accused of environmental organizations in the United States that they altered the results of gas emissions produced by their cars, which explodes the greatest crisis that this company has had. In 2015, with tests carried out by EPA, they were ableThose in charge of the emission tests carried out to all the cars that occur in Europe, these tests were the Euro 5 and Euro 6 of gas emissions, that all Volkswagen cars met, but after knowing the real results of emissions manyEuropean associations cut relations with Volkswagen because this fact was a very serious offense to ethics and the environment, which is why the German company has had to pay large fines in the different countries where the altered vehicles were distributed and even so this thisIt is not over, because there are several cases of justice pending against this company, which also decoupled its high commanders .

On the other hand, car sales have not gone down with the crisis, but Volkswagen’s recognition worldwide, in addition to the decline, as of 2015 (the year of the crisis) to date this company has not returnedto receive no recognition in your products.

• Explain the abnormality detected, based on detail the technical failure and lack of ethical and/or social responsibility type

The American Environmental Protection Agency rather known by its acronym EPA was the one who helped with the detection the alteration of the results thrown when cars were subjected to gas emission tests, but the discovery was made by Peter Mock (director ofAn environmental group called Internatinal Council for Clean Transportation) which performing experiments for their environmental group according to BBC said "and everything began by an attempt to demonstrate that pollutant gas controls in Europe are much less demanding than in the United States" (BBC, BBC.OM, 2015), after all this the company’s actions fell dramatically in stock markets, but focusing on the ethical lack that this company committed was not only a lack of ethics, but there were 3 they lacked economic ethics, ethicsPersonal and ethics of the company, why did you fail in these 3 ethics?. Volkswagen lacks economic ethics because in addition to analyzing the economic environment, it must analyze the social and environmental environment and it is in the latter where they committed the serious fault, in which the actual values of pollution turned out to be up to 40 times more than whatallowed US law. Personal ethics failed because the high positions of the company became disregardGeneral of the firm Martin Winterkorn, but on the days after all this scandal Michael Horn who was president of all Volkswagen brands in the United States admitted that he knew since 2014 the trick of the engines, that is why they incurred in this foulBecause they did not face the moment with real answers about the problems they had and after a while they gave the answers, so this was antietic because they did not report on time and also hid the truth. Finally the lack of business ethics the company fails in its good governance and norms such as transparency, product quality and the organization’s own internal communication.

• Point out the consequences and implications of their decisions and actions, taking into account the principles of professional ethics and social responsibility.

The consequences of this event in the field of social responsibility are fully focused on the environmental damage caused by gases emitted by the engines of Volkswagen’s car models that were intervened with the software to deceive emission analysis because these reallyMotors issued from 10 to 40 times more the amount of gases allowed by law for this type of vehicles, on the other hand, they sold products with false specifications, so they incur crimes of deception or fraud, in addition an absence of ethics is discovered, starting with the professional who created the software for such a case, knowing the purpose of the same. Likewise, the directors of the company without conscience, only with a view to maximizing its capital, abusing ethical and environmental values.

• Evaluate their personal characteristics, identifying the challenges for ethical and socially responsible behavior in their professional development.

Some of our personal characteristics are responsibility, reliability, honesty, focus and passion in our work. This is why we always like to give confidence because when we finish our career many people will depend on us and deposit their trust in us to leave their cars with an optimal performance without failures with the obligation to leave each part with the levels and quality standards thathave each one designated, we can also have people in charge of which everyone always has to be treated in the best way maintaining a pleasant work environment.

• Design strategies for the responsibility for their performance that denote commitment to their profession and society. That is, what should have been the correct procedure

In this case we could have been involved in this fact, because this was not just a problem of the highest company positions, if not here several sections of the company are involved, because the fault is presented more Of 11 million cars, which always have to carry a quality seal, where As in this case, the fault was on the part of the pollutant gases produced by Volkswagen’s diesel engines, which is why we as future engineers in automotive mechanics have to ensure a good job and operation of the vehicles, because the people trust their proper function The environment without exceeding the limits of environmental laws. The new procedure to perform would obviously improving the engine to reduce gas emissions to acceptable levels, without having to occupy softwares to modify data to comply with the levels of pollution laws.

• Evaluate the social relevance of the designed, in a compromised and responsible way, within the scope of your profession. That is, you how group, how do you evaluate the situation that occurred

Very bad because it affects the entire motor world, because a company as large as the Volkswagen group in addition to producing daily use cars also produce motorcycles and trucks with which we can run into the streets day by day, with the which generates some uncertainty about the security that that vehicle that is circulating can have, which is why we find it wrong, because a small factory problem can attempt with the life of Carias people, we also find it wrong due to contamination That these engines produce because we are already in campaigns against global warming that is an issue that affects us all equally, that is why many companies have lowered their carbon production footprint to 0%, we know that conventional engines (gasoline and oil) pollute, but if the pollution keeps it under what the laws is assigned, the damage will not be as large as the one that certain Volkswag models do in which they pollute up to 40 times more that allowed by laws, as they point out Chilean clients who bought affected models and are currently demanding from Porsche Chile (company of the Volkswagen Group) «If I had the option of buying a car that pollutes 40 times more times that what contaminates another, would not have bought it ”(ODECU, 2018)

conclusion

Cases such as this crisis that still has an impact on the Volkswagen group of companies are cases that we do not expect to see at this time where ethical practices are present from the smallest businesses, to the largest, in addition the professionals who are taking care of various areas in These companies should have at least general knowledge of ethics because they are in charge of groups of people, to which they must treat them with their due respect, but outside this company for failing 3 types of ethics, it was submerged in A great crisis because its international and especially in the European Union was very affected, because they have regulatory contamination standards, in addition the company now faces millionaire demands from organizations and even some countries, because the 11 million Affected cars were distributed throughout the markets, looking at possible culprits Michael Horn former manager of Volkswagen United States has s The only one that from the beginning pointed out to know about the modification of the results of the gases by software he said that he was totally willing to collaborate to reach the real culprit of this crisis faced by the Volkswagen company.

References

• BBC. (September 25, 2015). BBC.com. Obtained from BBC World: https: // www.BBC.com/Mundo/News/2015/09/150924_Tecnologia_volkswagen_como_Medir_emissions_Autos_il
• ODECU. (06 of 11 of 2018). ODECU.Cl. Obtained from https: // www.ODECU.CL/WP-CONTENTENT/UPLOADS/2019/09/DEMAND-VOLKSWAGEN.PDF
• Statista. (August 28, 2019). statista.com. Obtained from https: // www.statista.com/statatics/272049/Worldwide-Vehicle-Sales-Of-Volkswagen-Since-2006/
• Amount of cars sold by Volkswagen (in millions) 2006