The Volkswagen Scandal

The+Volkswagen+Scandal

Jackson Tennant, Staff Writer '17

In the past few weeks, a troubling story has emerged.

Volkswagen, for quite some time, claimed that its line of automobiles were eco-friendly and helped the environment. However, the shocking news which seemingly came out of nowhere was that the cars were actually making the environment far worse due to the materials within their cars.

While the cars did ultimately have a safety mode, it decreased the power and performance of the Volkswagen a great deal. When taken off of the so called “test mode,” the cars ran on the road very well, as people did not realize the side effects of Volkswagen’s secret. Ultimately, the “eco-friendly” cars were quite the opposite; the engines emitted pollutants which allow for more than 40 times the legal amount allowed in the U.S.

Since news broke of the shocking incident, Volkswagen has gone through a turbulent time —  CEO Martin Winterkorn resigning on September 23rd, five days after the scandal went public. While only 482,000 cars in the U.S. had this device, the worldwide totals are startling with more than 11 million total cars equipped with this device.

The scandal has brought to light the issue of car regulations and of whether other car companies have used similar tactics and marketing schemes to increase sales.