Volkswagen’s master class in business ethics

An by the US shows that the world’s biggest carmaker, Volkswagen, installed software in it vehicles to trick the routine vehicle emission control checks carried out by the organization

The software was able to detect when a vehicle was undergoing testing and would then . In regular traffic conditions, the than those allowed by the .

The maneuver affects all diesel models of the Jetta, Beetle, and Golf models produced between 2009 and 2014, along with Passats from 2014 and 2015, as well as the Audi A3 from between 2009 and 2015. The company admits it installed the software and will now have to call in around half a million vehicles and fix the problem free of charge. It also faces a fine of up to $18 billion.

However, setting the emissions levels to meet EPA requirements will reduce the performance levels of Volkswagen’s cars, say experts in automotive technology.

The German car-maker’s actions are a flagrant breach of all business ethics: creating software sufficiently sophisticated so as to be able to detect when one of its vehicles is being tested for road worthiness, and to then switch its emissions…