As the showrunner of one of my favourite shows reminds whenever shit like this comes up: A fine is a price*. VW probably built the cost of this into their models and projections – if a company pulls a stunt like this, there’s no way they didn’t consider the cost of getting caught.
I’m not sure even criminal prosecution would be a huge disincentive, though. A few years in minimum security will become a new badge of honour in the C-suite, showing who really has the guts to make staggering amounts of money.
Oh, I would not argue that people need MORE incentive. My basic rule of thumb is that anyone who wants to be in charge probably shouldn’t be because what they want are the power and perqs. We need to get back to the idea that leadership is a RESPONSIBILITY role, not a glory one. Part of that is changing the rule/mindset that shareholder value is the only responsibility. How, outside of hacking human nature and hardwiring the world to believe people > profits, I do not know.
Or maybe the EPA can do the testing like the grad school students who originally busted VW:
Put some hardware on the tailpipe and just drive the damn thing around. There isn’t that many new car models coming out every year that it would be all that much extra time and effort.
“But what if they send a non-production-comparable car for testing?” Fine, randomized testing of production models then. Just like randomized drug tests, and with steep penalties like immediate compulsory recalls.
I’m pretty sure actual human nature is on your side there. The problem is that we’ve catered things to select for a certain unusually callous subset of people to run everything. My oversimplification: Adam Smith inspired economics (self-interest my ass!) said that people should build a system that didn’t rely on trust, and the result has been allowing absolutely untrustworthy people to shine.
Most people respect other people, think co-operation is better than competition, and want enough to get by so they can do what they want with their free time. Any story that starts with a person being offered 10 times the money to work twice the hours is going to end with the person realizing they were happier when they got to spend time with their family. That’s the moral that resonates with human nature. (obviously the story will be about an already comfortable white suburbanite)
I suspected that thing was less than important, but that’s just ridiculous. I had a bad one that toasted its relay and blew a fuse, and allowed the choice I wouldn’t have replaced either of them. (and I don’t want to look up what I paid for all that, but it was not reasonable)
