Volkswagen has owned up to the fact that the recent diesel emissions scandal was the result of a chain of errors within the company, rather than the responsibility of a handful of rogue engineers.
A culture fostered within the company led to rampant rule breaking, which went unreprimanded. “We are talking here not about a one-off mistake but a chain of errors,” Volkswagen chairman Hans Dieter Pötsch commented.
Blame game
“We are relentlessly searching for those responsible for what happened and you may rest assured we will bring these persons to account,” Pötsch continued.
VW is now acting to change its internal processes to ensure there is more supervision of staff working on engine software development. There will also be a number of ‘real life’ emissions tests carried out, which will be corroborated by third parties.
IT systems
A new IT system is also going to be implemented to make it easier to flag misconduct within the company.
“No business justifies crossing legal and ethical boundaries,” Pötsch concluded.”When it comes to thresholds, we need the courage to be more honest. The growing industry-wide discrepancies between official emissions data and real-life levels are no longer acceptable. We need to break new ground here.”
Robert joined the HRreview editorial team in October 2015. After graduating from the University of Salford in 2009 with a BA in Politics, Robert has spent several years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past he has been part of editorial teams at Flux Magazine, Mondo*Arc Magazine and The Marine Professional.