Probe Reveals 'Cheat Device' Was Open Secret in VW's Engine Department

News of Volkswagen (VW) using 'cheat devices' that tricked diesel-emissions tests into believing that the engines were producing far lesser air pollutants than they actually were, rocked the international auto industry as over 11 million cars were affected worldwide. The company is facing fines that run into billions of dollars, particularly in America.

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During this tumultuous phase in the automotive conglomerate's history, German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung further added fuel to the fire by unveiling that the development of said cheating software was an open secret in the engine development department. The report further stated that many managers and staff dealing with emissions testing of VW products knew about or were themselves involved in the developing of the cheating software. Knowing of the severe repercussions that the company would have to face if word of this device were to spread, a culture of collective secrecy was maintained. Shockingly, officials had discussed the after effects of getting called out for such a scandal, as far back as 2006.

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A whistle-blower who himself was involved in the scandal, had once alerted a senior manager of the device but no action was taken. Part of the reason behind the installation of the devices was that the engine department was under immense pressure to develop clean and cost effective diesel engines for the American market which lead them to use the 'cheat device' rather than telling management that the guidelines for developing such an engine could not be adhered to. To shed light on the events that lead to the scandal, VW set up an amnesty program which promised not to terminate employment of those employees who stepped forwards with information regarding the scandal by 30 November, 2015.

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Quoting Volkswagen's internal investigation report, Sueddeutsche Zeitung said," Within the company there was a culture of 'we can do everything', so to say something cannot be done, was not acceptable. Instead of coming clean to the management board that it cannot be done, it was decided to commit fraud."

The engine development staff was satisfied with the fact that the software would remain undetectable when using conventional techniques to test for emissions. The Bosch developed engine management system was then tinkered with at Volkswagen's headquarters in Wolfsburg and manipulation of engines began in November 2006.

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Volkswagen has maintained that barring a small circle of people involved in engine development, no top management or supervisory board officials were aware of the cheat device. The company admitted to the existence of such a device in its vehicles to the U.S. environmental authorities in September 2015. The bringing to light of the scandal was then followed by the stepping down of the company's chief executive.

Volkswagen has declined from commenting on these so called 'speculations' stating that the investigation was still on-going. The company has hired American law firm Jones Day to represent them and when contacted by Reuters late on Friday night, the law firm's Munich office stated that its spokespeople had left for the day. The first results of the internal investigation will be revealed at the annual shareholders' meeting this coming April.