Automakers and their Dark, Deadly Conspiracies
by Yves Engler
Over the past eighteen months two of the world’s largest automakers
have been found responsible for deadly conspiracies. But, recent
revelations can’t compete with the industry’s previous scandals.
Last month Volkswagen was caught rigging millions of its cars
emissions testing systems to meet regulatory standards. The German
company programmed its turbocharged direct injection diesel engines to
activate emissions controls during laboratory testing while in
real-world driving the vehicles produced up to 40 times more nitrogen
oxide (NOx). Hundreds, probably thousands, of people will be afflicted
with asthma, lung disease and other ailments as a result.
The Volkswagen scandal follows on the heels of General Motors’
efforts to hide ignition and airbag defects in millions of its vehicles.
The faulty ignition switches cause the vehicle to lose power and its
airbag to fail during accidents. GM accepts that at least 124 people
died as a result of a glitch company officials knew about for years.
In a much bigger scandal, a half century ago information surfaced
implicating auto companies in a conspiracy to keep the population in a
toxic haze. The “smog conspiracy” was revealed in 1968 when the US
Department of Justice filed an anti-trust case against the Big Three.
They were accused of colluding to withhold the installation of catalytic
converters and other technologies to reduce pollution. “Beginning at
least as early as 1953, and continuing thereafter,” alleged the
Department of Justice, “the defendants and co-conspirators have been
engaged in a combination and conspiracy in unreasonable restraint of the
aforesaid interstate trade and commerce in motor vehicle air pollution
control equipment.”
