molson cdn

First I want to start with General Motors.

GM went ahead and put cars on the road that they KNEW had faulty ignition switches. A lousy 1 dollar part, but a part so incredibly important, that if it failed, your car shuts off. No power, no airbags, no power brakes, basically a car coasting along.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.2365124

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/gm-k...show-1.2585731

The big problem I have with it is that GM KNEW they had a problem. But they kept selling cars, and didn’t institute a recall. Depending on whose numbers you want to use, the confirmed deaths range from a low of 129, to over 300 because of failed air bag deployment in crashes. The bottom line is that people died in cars produced with a KNOWN defect.

Let’s see what the Director of Auto safety had to say…. “GM killed over 100 people by knowingly putting a defective ignition switch into over 1 million vehicles. Yet no one from GM went to jail or was even charged with criminal homicide,”

“This shows a weakness in the law, not a weakness in the facts,” he said. “GM killed innocent consumers. GM has paid millions of dollars to its lobbyists to keep criminal penalties out of the Vehicle Safety Act since 1966. Today, thanks to its lobbyists, GM officials walk off scot-free while its customers are 6 feet under.”
- Clarence Ditlow, executive director at the Center for Auto Safety.

Take a look at the amount of money GM vs VW donated to politicians at the bottom of this post. My sources:
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/sum...042113&cycle=A
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/sum...000155&cycle=A

So, General Motors gets to kill people, and guess what their Fine was? 900 million dollars, no criminal penalty and a promise to do better next time. .

So, GM killed folks and got a slap on the wrist.

Now to Volkswagen.
VW is one of, if not the biggest auto complex on earth. They employ over 600,000 people via engineering, design, plant maintenance, etc. They produce vehicles for the world. So what was so horrendous that they did, to bring an 18 BILLION dollar fine upon themselves? They fiddled with the software concerning emissions on their diesel engines. Basically it said the car was producing less “carbon” than it actually was. They didn’t kill anyone, they didn’t swindle hundreds of millions of dollars. Nope, they simply lied about their carbon amounts. For that…they’ll be darn near bankrupted.

See any problem with this? I do. Why are they pouncing on VW so hard? For two reasons actually, but they work perfectly in concert. First, the Elites have been pushing global warming on us for more than 15 years now. According to them ( and now the Pope) global warming is the single biggest threat of all time and they stand fully ready to regulate, tax, and make you conform to the carbon credit market. Or you’ll die.

If VW had merely killed innocent consumers by putting in faulty switches, they’d have been fine. No problem. Sorry, simple mistake. But play with the golden God of Carbon emissions? Now you have a problem. An 18 BILLION dollar, job killing, company crushing problem.

But it’s much deeper than that. As I said this is a double edged sword. Because the US expects all nations to do as we tell them without question, if you don’t toe the line, bad things happen to you. Ask Libya. Ask saddam. Ask Syria. Ask Russia.

Well the US has been having issues with certain aspects of Germany. Germany got hot under the collar about all the NSA spying. Then Germany had the audacity to ask for its gold to be sent back, an absolute crime of epic proportions. Then they got rather perturbed that because of US sanctions on Russia, German business was getting crushed and losing billions in trade. To top it off, members of Germany’s banking sector were opposed to the QE programs of Brussels. Germany was getting boisterous and that’s a no-no.

So, as usual the US had to show whose boss. Because as George Bush declared, you’re either with us or against us. He wasn’t just talking about terrorism folks. It’s everything, business, trade deals, NATO expansion, poking Russia in the eye, fomenting Government overthrows, all of it.

But the final stake in VW’s heart was that they had plans to build a massive all-electric car in China. They had plans to spend 22 Billion Euro’s in China making 15 different models, some of which were cheaper than Tesla’s, went further, recharged in mere minutes and performed better. Do you think the US was going to miss the opportunity to shut down that little expansion of Chinese/German business?

http://www.euronews.com/2015/06/04/v...lans-in-china/

So now you know why VW is getting absolutely shellacked over this. It certainly isn’t their cars, they make some of the most high MPG vehicles on earth.There have been NO complaints about too much smoke or dirt coming out of their tailpipes. This was a “hit” nothing less.

And the hit will come fast and furious. People will sue them for “loss of resale value” and the “over the top” greens will scream to the courts that VW is somehow killing Bambi. Now don’t get me wrong, VW did indeed “lie” and break the rules. No question about it. However, does the punishment really fit the crime?

Jonathon Rolstin

This is brilliant, well written, entertaining and so incredibly true I just don't know what to do.

I'm sharing this with everyone...

JimV8

Wow. Tell us how you really feel.

fanny bay r1

Very interesting point!! I still want a TDI and I'm not getting the recall done!!

canadagord

Holy Fark! Well written so good!

Spyerx

you're confusing media hype with reality and stating facts to suit a hypothesis that has some flaws.
I'm in no way justifying either outcomes
some mathematician reporters are taking the fine per vehicle and doing math. there have been no FINES paid
no way in hell will they pay that much.
when the GM scandal launched there were huge numbers thrown out
Keep in mind that GM is facing 100's of individual civil lawsuits so their cost of this will be substantially more than the fines. The bankruptcy has complicated this due to the laws and liabilities of events prior to the bankruptcy
Toyota got off easy, so did GM, but the civil lawsuits due to the deaths will make their costs much higher
I suspect VW will get off easy on fines, but it will cost them a massive amount of $ to remediate the issues

molson cdn

Spyerx, does the punishment really fit the crime?

When it comes to justice, there are those companies that have been bailed out by the US Government, and then there is everyone else. Case in point, GM, which was fined $900 million for covering up its faulty ignition switches that caused at least 124 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

The deal with GM was cut by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, who said there’s no federal criminal penalty for knowingly putting a deadly product on the market. "It has been a challenging case, for the agencies, for the prosecutors and for me," Bharara said.

A GM engineer knew about the fatal defect even before the first car rolled off the line. He secretly changed the part in 2005 but left hundreds of thousands of cars on the road with the bad switch. GM lawyers conspired to delay the recall. Much harsher penalties and individual prosecutions are warranted.

GM killed people, but Volkswagen killed the air!

While one can debate whose crime is greater, it is quite clear that the punitive damages so far are orders of magnitude apart.

Why? This is precisely what Volkswagen executives, many of whom will lose their jobs in the coming days, are scratching their heads over.

Spyerx

You're making an assumption of punishment when no punishment has been issued or fines levied at this point.

Imo000

The bottom line is that GM didn't try to cheat the government, VW did. You screw with the government and you wish you weren't born. Some people spend more time.behind bars for cheating on their taxes than other for murder. Same situation is happenening here.

myw

lolll

ronnie993tt

It's not about what is fair or deserving, it's about how much money the US government can squeeze out of VW, a non-voting foreigner, to pay for Obama's disastrous economic legacy.

Imo000

That shiit was left by Doubelya.

UseThe4s

My wife talked about this exact thing this past week, albeit not based on quite so much research and quotes. My winter car (and former summer daily driver 'til I bought my 997) is a 2005 VW TDi with over 1/4 million kms and counting. I have no complaints about the vehicle. It is quite possibly one of the best vehicles I have ever owned and I fully expect to keep driving it and telling people what a fantastic car it's been for us for many years to come. Indeed just last week the front wings and trunk were replaced under warranty because my regular VW service folks triggered the warranty submission. This was a surprise since I had never mentioned anything about it and indeed I had just considered a couple of minor paint bubbles to be fully expected after 10+ years of Canadian winter driving through deep snow and salted roads, etc.. I'd buy another one if I didn't think the beast is probably good for at least another 250,000 or more. Will watch with interest as the story develops

Imo000

Do you know about the camshaft wear, balance shaft module and transmission/ torque converter issues? Done any if them? If not, in the next 50K the camshaft will more than likely need replacing. The balance shaft module chain is probably already noisy when the engine is cold (it will kill the engine when it popps) and the transmission is close to the end of it's life. Either put $5K for this or sell it ASAP. I have one that I converted to a manual 5-speed, just changed the camshaft and the balance module is next (chain already rattling when cold).

Bob D..

It's OK to rant about this, but it would be good to get the facts straight.

The VW software was not focused on carbon, although CO2 emissions are what is front of mind these days. The software actually reduced the amount of exhaust gas recirculation, which improves the driveability and reduces fuel consumption a bit, but radically increases the output of nitrous oxides, which are poisonous and the basis for chemical smog and acid rain.
Its not about soot or carbon, nor is it about the software "telling" that the emissions are different; it is about changing the operation during testing to reduce nitrous oxides.

The US situation pales in comparison to the rest of the world - North america is about 500,000 vehicles out of 11 million that VW is recalling. It has emerged that

As someone else stated, there haven't been any penalties imposed yet - the $18B in fines is just a simple calc of the max of $37.5K per vehicle.

Anybody know whether various EU countries levy fines in such cases?

I agree that both the GM and VW cases are indictments of very bad decision making and likely, in both cases, no individuals will suffer appropriately.