Why It Seems Like Open Season on Car Companies: QuickTake Q&A
A VW logo sits on a covering under the bonnet of a Volkswagen AG Passat TDI automobile powered by a turbocharged direct injection engine in London, U.K., on Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015. Volkswagen is grappling with an emissions scandal on three fronts: cheating software installed in about 11 million vehicles worldwide with 1.2-, 1.6- and 2.0-liter engines; irregular carbon dioxide ratings on about 800,000 vehicles in Europe; and questionable emissions software in about 85,000 VW, Audi and Porsche vehicles with 3.0-liter diesel engines in the U.S.
Photographer: Miles Willis/BloombergSometimes it can seem like the entire automotive industry is under investigation. Volkswagen is still making amends for the tricks it played to enable its diesel-powered vehicles to pass emissions tests. Audi -- a VW unit -- is now accused of similarly rigging gasoline-fueled cars. Fiat-Chrysler is being sued, and Mercedes parent Daimler faces an investigation and lawsuits over similar allegations. Mitsubishi admitted doctoring fuel-economy claims. Takata must replace 70 million faulty airbags linked to 17 deaths worldwide. The General Motors ignition-switch debacle is blamed for the loss of at least 120 lives and led to $2.1 billion in fines and legal settlements with more potentially coming.
Most of the cases deal with stringent emissions standards put in place by the Environmental Protection Agency in 2001. Carmakers were given until 2010 to comply. Chrysler and the maker of its engines bet they could beat the competition to market. They did so, in 2007, but with a truck allegedly incapable of meeting those standards over its lifetime, according to a consumer lawsuit, which says Chrysler’s diesel Dodge Ram trucks from 2007-2012 were rigged to cheat smog tests.