Diesel Dupe Case

In 2002 a joint project between International Navistar and the Ford Motor Company was born. “The goal of this project was to create an engine that was fuel efficient, emission compliant and would be able to outperform all of the competition” (Banks Power). With over 2 million ford super duty’s equipped with the 7.3l Powerstroke engine on the road, the new engine would have big shoes to fill. The engine that was to replace the outdated, underpowered and overall inadequate 7.3l Powerstroke was the International Navistar 6.0l turbo diesel.

These qualities must be incorporated each day not only in one’s own judgements and actions,

In 2011, Volkswagen was the world’s largest automaker, with brands from Audi to VW to Porsche. Volkswagen was the proud marketer of “clean diesel” cars. But the company, starting in

As a result of EPA regulations, today’s diesel engines are more efficient than ever before seen in large and midsized trucks. Certain regulations restrict truck owners from using certain truck models, because of excess diesel emission. Increasing drastically as technology improves, cars and trucks produce less and less diesel exhausts and emissions. “But because diesel engines can operate for 30 years or more, millions of older, dirtier engines are still in use,” (Epa.Gov). Reducing exposure to diesel exhaust from these engines is especially important for the preservation of human health and the environment. According to the EPA, the United States Environmental Protection Agency,

In this bibliography, Julia Driver approaches the reader with the philosophy of utilitarianism, she also describes to us about how the traditional utilitarian philosophers Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill would describe utilitarianism to be identified with what is good, bad, and pleasurable. Julia Driver has been widely recognized for her work in philosophical ethics, she has received young scholar awards from Cornell’s University programs in philosophy. I will use Julia’s views, and thoughts to help sustain my argument, that the utilitarian approach provokes moral assessment and ethical decision-making. Velasquez, Manuel, Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks, and Michael Meyer. " Calculating Consequences: The Utilitarian Approach to Ethics."

I think it would be more advantageous for the company to maximize their diesel trucks. While Hydrogen may be the wave of the future, it has not arrived yet. Diesel engines, while nosier that other engines still offer up to 30% better mileage. Than gasoline engines. Diesel has been available for years, it’s relatively cheap to use and offers better mileage and longer engine life than gasoline. But all is not peaches and cream for diesel motors, they are noisy and offer lots of vibration. They are also terrible for the air, so they require more expensive equipment to combat strict emission standards. Because diesel has been a part of our economic system so long all the necessary infrastructure is already in place.

2015 was not a banner year for the car manufacturer, Volkswagen. In September, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that many VW cars being sold in America had a “defeat device”- or software-in diesel engines that could detect when they were being tested, changing the performance accordingly to improve results (Hotten 1). It was found that the defeat device altered the emissions of the Volkswagen’s diesel engine; the defeat device software had the capability of sensing if it was in a testing situation or driven normally. In the test environment the software would function properly to provide the expected test results and then revert back to unsafe emissions levels. As a result, the EPA issued notice of violation to Volkswagen on September 18, accusing the company of installing a defeat device that caused NOx emissions at 40 times the standard limit (Alter 4). At the time that the EPA violation was levied it was believed that at least 480,000 cars in the United States would be affected by the defeat device.

Utilitarianism is the concept that the moral worth of an action is only determined by the happiness or pleasure from all people. It is an ethical philosophy where the happiness of the most amount of people is considered good. An action is morally right if it results in the happiness in the most amount of people and there is an absence of pain. It is morally wrong if the consequence brings in unhappiness and/or a lot pain and harm. English philosophers Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill were hedonist, which meant that they valued everything as a “balance of pleasure over pain”(West, 1).

From 2009 through 2014, Volkswagen aggressively marketed and promoted their diesel-powered vehicles as more energy-efficient and producing less harmful emissions than before. Customers were promised that diesel was a more efficient alternative to traditional gasoline, and that it had great benefits for customers looking for a “greener” alternative.

Did you know that the “the transportation sector [alone] is responsible for over 50% of NOx total emissions, over 30% of VOCs emissions, and over 20% of PM emissions in the U.S.” (United States Environmental Protection Agency)? Because the effect of these pollutants is not immediately felt, many engineers do not hesitate to bypass these regulations. James Liang is no exception. A recent publication unveiled the truth behind the emission’s release of one of Volkswagen’s models. Unable to design an engine that complied with the US emissions regulations, Volkswagen instead developed a software that would fool the emissions exam. The software was designed so that the vehicle would operate using the appropriate emissions release during the exam

“Utilitarianism is the concept that the moral worth of an action is determined exclusively by its contribution to overall utility, that is, its contribution to happiness or pleasure as summed among all people.”

Pure UtilItarianism is a moral theory formally published by the 19th century English philosopher Jeremy Bentham establishing utilitarianism as providing the greatest amount of utility (or pleasure) with the least amount of pain. Pure utilitarianism demonstrates an economical approach to individual morality. The three tenets that surround utilitarianism or hedonism, aggregation and consequentialism. (1) Hedonism reflects the only thing good for ‘us’ as an end is pleasure and the absence of pain. (2) Aggregation considers an outcome is better if the sum of what is good for each of ‘us’ less what is worse for each of ‘us’ is greater. (3) Consequentialism appeals we are morally required to do what is to produce the best outcome. While there are dozens of criticisms of utilitarianism, I believe we must critically examine what defines ‘us’ to further reinforce the validity of the concept. Through this lens, while whom/what we are responsible to provide pleasure for comes as a philosophical query in itself; whether we are responsible for the human race,

The principles set by an individual in order to promote good performance in his or her career is referred to as personal code of ethics. These ethics can be linked to two contexts; the business ethics and the personal ethics. The first governs an individual’s relationship with his/ her colleagues and the other is an individual guide for effective performance of his/her duties.

With billions of dollars invested and hundreds of thousands of Americans employed (Department of Commerce, n.d.), the automobile industry has a vast influence in the United States. Since the time Henry Ford developed the assembly line production (Statista, n.d.) the industry has grown into a global market with no signs of slowing down. Top car companies are constantly searching for new innovations to set them apart from their competitors. Among those companies is Volkswagen (VW). A company which strides in emissions and fuel efficiency turned, not only to be false, but caused a severe amount of damage (Ewing, 2016).

Almost always, when a new product is released, some sort of problems will occur. In 2013, Volkswagen was ranked first in its section on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. During that year, Volkswagen scored an 89 out of 100. VW became one of the top competitors of sustainability within the automotive industry. However, in the early 2000’s, diesel engine manufactures such as VW had been submitting questionable data. Many of the VW vehicles had been violating the Clean Air Act. In order to understand the case, it is important to analyze how Volkswagen is guilty of greenwashing, how the company and situation relates to the 3 levels of Social Responsibility, as well as discussing whether Volkswagen will be able to