Lawyers representing U.S. Volkswagen owners claim European auto parts supplier Bosch was a willing accomplice in the scheme to deceive diesel buyers and regulators.
The scandal forced the automaker into a $15.3 billion settlement in the U.S., but its corporate partners escaped relatively unscathed. That might not be the case anymore, Bloomberg reports.
In a court filing obtained by the news outlet, lawyers behind the Volkswagen lawsuit claim Bosch was an “active participant in a massive, decade-long conspiracy with VW.” Bosch is listed as a defendant in the suit.
We already know that the automaker waited years to use the defeat device installed in diesel vehicles. Audi reportedly developed the technology in 1999, which Volkswagen then borrowed to fool emissions regulators around the world. The litigants say Bosch helped develop the device using its own software, then helped the automaker cover up the deception.
Bosch touted the vehicles’ “clean diesel” technology and lobbied regulators to approve them for sale, the documents state. The source of the claims come from documents handed over by Volkswagen prior to its settlement.
According to Reuters, the court filing came one day after sources said the automaker was holding talks with the U.S. Department of Justice to settle its criminal investigation.
If Bosch is scared of looming legal action, it isn’t showing it. A spokesperson for the supplier told Bloomberg that it hasn’t boosted its legal funds, which stand at $750 million.
“and lobbied regulators”…
No scam without willful accomplices. Authorities in the U.S. as well as in the EU need to go the bottom of this.
There had to be collusion between the two.
Wasn’t Michael Horn and Werner Struth seen meeting on the tarmac at Phoenix a while back???
I entirely expected the real culprits to walk away from this. IMO, this cannot happen without multi-level involvement of a LOT of people, and I’m glad to see that this isn’t *just* going to end with a fine and a bunch of engineers who were probably following orders getting walking papers. These corporations are going to get hit where it hurts and shareholders will want bigwig heads to roll.
If my memory serves, the president and CEO of VW were forced out. So the big wigs did get hit. That said, I suspect they retired to a sunny beach somewhere in style and luxury.
It makes sense that bosch might have been involved but the source of that claim suggests we should treat it with the utmost skepticism. Keep in mind that this is a response from class action plaintiffs looking at a situation where their primary defendant just agreed to massive restitution to their class, one which completely excludes their own firms billable hours (or percentage fee) from the pot. The question is, will a class action damages calculation take into account the minimum $6100 vw has already agreed to pay all effected owners? If a reputable lawyer says yes, that brings a huge motivation to bring other parties into play. A motivation that might/definitely will lead to fishing expeditions in search of new money.
What I said above is obviously not the final word, there very well could be new information out there. I’m a little perplexed that this new information would arise not from the epa, carb, doj, German prosecutors, or anyone actually reading the companies emails in the interest of prosecution or government action.
Again, it makes sense but I’m highly skeptical at the same time.
I am seriously surprised.
Conspiracies are hard enough to contain between a handful of people, let alone within a corporation. But to have two companies conspiring on such a detailed plan seems almost inconceivable to me. This would be more complex than a simple price-fixing scheme, for instance.
And to think I actually liked Bosch….
Bosch does make a pretty darn good dishwasher…
Miele FTW!
Yes they do, I’ve had their low end model since 2003 and it’s a nice, quiet dishwasher that still works great. We even took it with us when we moved and put a cheap Roper in its place for the new owner…
When I first heard about the implication of Bosch being involved, I knew it wasn’t just VW all on their own. Bosch has been supplying VW with electronic engine control modules for probably 30+ years and supplied injection pumps for the old IDI engines for a long time as well, so it’s not like it’s a distant relationship between them and VW. They most likely knew fully what was going on.
Miele dishwashers are good but not as reliable as Bosch. Miele vacuums though, are the standard by which others are measured.
Maybe, but I had a Bosch tankless water heater, front loading washer and dryer and all were total and utter crap.
I did have a Bosch stove that I liked, but I found out years later that it was made under license by Electrolux.
What does this have to do with cars? I have no idea.
They probably thought what they were doing was no more than a sharp practice, gaming of the system. As the years wear on, the second and third generation of colluders probably had no conception of how far afield they were.
Price-fixing as a serious matter is fairly recent. When they sent the first few execs to jail in 1960-61 in a case, it created a sensation. When the conspiracy was ongoing, the Holiday inn where the price fixers liked to meet would sometimes run “Welcome price-fixing” on its marquee.
I seem to recall within hours of the first word coming out about VW getting caught, Bosch issued a press release basically saying, “WE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT!”
I remember thinking, uh, no one said you did…and why would you issue a statement when your name had yet to be mentioned?
Maybe VW and Bosch share the same PR firm…
I recall the same thing, with the same thoughts.
IIRC, a letter from the past was revealed that basically warned VW that what it planned to do, i.e., use the acoustic function in production ECUs, was illegal. The letter was sent to VW way before the scandal broke, but it’s existence was revealed after the revelation.
To me there can only be one ‘evil one’
Either VW asked Bosch to help them build a defeat device in which case VW are the evil ones or…….
Bosch approached VW and said, look what our R&D team came up with, you interested? In which case Bosch is the evil one.
They may both share the guilt, but one has to be on the hook as the instigator/master architect.
Audi engineers designed it, that much has been established. Bosch participated by building the ECUs that contained the program.
From a software standpoint it would not be that difficult to engineer. The system knows when it is under test and simply changes the operating parameters to cause the engine to run with reduced emissions. Once the testing stops the software would simply change back to the standard operating parameters which creates more performance and better fuel mileage.
Audi engineers developed it, at least by most accounts in the German press.
Lots of development code never makes into production. It can be experimental code, or research prototypes meant prove a concept or to measure various characteristics in-house.
I remember reading that Bosch put the cheat code in there for VW to test, but warned them not to implement during production. Start looking for those emails, because the lawyers will call out every company that has their name attached to any part of the systems envolved.
Good point. Plenty of presumed guilt by association to go around.