An Engineering Theory of the Volkswagen Scandal - The New Yorker

An Engineering Theory of the Volkswagen Scandal - The New Yorker

By The real culprit behind the automaker's woes may be the nature of engineering organizations themselves. Credit Photograph by Akos Stiller / Bloomberg via Getty Last week, Volkswagen of America C.E.O. Michael Horn told a House subcommittee investigating his company's ongoing emissions scandal that it wasn't a corporate decision to cheat emissions tests by installing "defeat" software in eleven million diesel cars. Instead, Horn said, it was "a couple of software engineers." His interlocutor, Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, reminded Horn that he was under oath and then asked him when Volkswagen's senior management in Europe learned of the tampering, which reportedly began in 2009. When Horn replied that they found out only this September, Barton expressed incredulity. "I agree, it's very hard to believe," Horn said. Indeed, it was hard to believe. A couple of rogue engineers took it upon themselves to write and install software that slashed emissions on Volkswagen diesels,

Read full article from An Engineering Theory of the Volkswagen Scandal - The New Yorker