VW Group of America CEO Michael Horn (L) is clearly part of sorting out the diesel fraud, but he’s not talking so far. Das nicht die Wahrheit.
The VW hearing at the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations today revealed the usual posturing with Volkswagen Group of America President and CEO Michael Horn saying as little as possible about a lawbreaking Dirty Diesel caper.
Then there were House members, many of them Republicans who are actively trying to destroy the Clean Air Act, feigning extreme concern for the environment. It was a depressing spectacle. The real issue on all sides is money, big money.
The first issue is how the deliberate use of testing defeat software that increases diesel NOx emissions will affect the survival of VW in the U.S. and ultimately other countries. There is a political survival issue here as well. That is how House members on the Committee will survive their own reelection campaigns that come up every two years. Add in millionaire VW dealers in many House districts – Republican or Democrat – are now in the midst of this business destroying Dirty Diesel crisis, and the sudden political posturing for clean air is as predictable, as it is depressing. (Next will come the taxpayers subsidies for the dealers doled out by politicians?)
Not much emerged that was not already known, that is to say very little.
VW CEO Horn said that three people have been suspended. Otherwise, he stuck by the know-nothing German party line from the outset. No one in the room believed that the Head of VW in the US when told in 2014 that its “Clean Diesel” marketing campaign was a sham did not vigorously pursue the problem. The new defeat device in play here – silence – was now effectively destroying what was left of VW credibility. The unexplained gap on what happened between 2014 and 2015 is bigger than the Grand Canyon.
For example, in March of 2014, just before the defeat deice was revealed Horn said, “Volkswagen Group of America is united not only by our devotion to building quality vehicles, but also by our commitment to doing what’s right for the environment, our communities and our employees.”
Fast forward to Horn at the hearing: “We have not had the opportunity to review all aspects of this matter, indeed the investigation is just beginning,” Horn said in his laughable opening remarks. “Therefore, my testimony and my answers to your questions will, by necessity, have to be considered preliminary and based on my best current recollection and information.”
“In the spring of 2014 when the West Virginia University study was published, I was told that there was a possible emissions non-compliance that could be remedied,” Horn said.
“I was informed that EPA regulations included various penalties for non-compliance with the emissions standards and that the agencies can conduct engineering tests which could include ‘defeat device’ testing or analysis. I was also informed that the company engineers would work with the agencies to resolve the issue. Later in 2014, I was informed that the technical teams had a specific plan for remedies to bring the vehicles into compliance and that they were engaged with the agencies about the process.”
Therein lies the timeline gap, the credibility gap and the common sense gap.
Congressional panel members were skeptical to hostile during their questioning of Horn as a result of his deliberate vagueness. It was clear that they expected not only significant fines to arise, but for VW to buy back the diesels at the pre-scandal price. With 11 million diesels involved so far globally, and 480,000 in the US.
This is potentially a company killer, given the buyback cost of – who knows $70 billion?, to say nothing of the litigation and potential criminal and certainly civil charges that could arise from the lawbreaking scheme.
During the second part of the hearing, EPA officials said the installation and use of a component — in this case, engine software — to “bypass, defeat, or render inoperative elements of the vehicles’ emission control system,” violates the Clean Air Act (CAA) and EPA regulations.
The EPA compliance budget of $100 million along with a staff of 300 people to investigate auto emissions clearly isn’t adequate against multi-billion-dollar auto budgets. One helpful suggestion is to divert some of fines gathered to EPA so that compliance enforcement can be increased. In the interim EPA needs more money in its budget. Don’t wait for the anti-environment Republicans to help on this vital reform. One immediate step EPA is taking is to “more unpredictable” in its emissions compliance testing.
The alleged violations here involve model year 2009-2015 VW and Audi vehicles equipped with 2-liter diesel engines. EPA and CARB have started enforcement investigations. No fines or recalls to bring the diesels into compliance have been announced to date. But obvious beneficiaries of disaffected VW and Audi diesel owners are BMW and Chevrolet, both of which offer diesels.
EPA also is expanding its review of other diesels as well as gasoline vehicles. The agency notified automakers on 25 September 2015 that it would add to its regimen of “confirmatory testing additional evaluations to look for additional defeat devices.” Multiple agencies and foreign governments also have launched their own investigations into VW’s conduct.
“There are serious issues raised by reports that Volkswagen installed so-called ‘defeat-devices’ in some of their diesel vehicles to circumvent decades old rules in place to protect public health,” said the chairman of the committee Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA).
“The American people want to know why these devices were in place, how the decision was made to install them, and how they went undetected for so long. We will get them those answers,” Murphy said without noting that Pennsylvania was the home of VW’s first American plant.
