It seems like just about everybody is at least a little irked by the recent revelations that Volkswagen used lines of code as a defeat device to make it seem as if its clean diesel engines were cleaner than they really were.
But there are a few people who are especially mad.
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Regulators
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was the one to publicly sound the alarm on Sept. 18 about Volkswagen's clean diesel engines not being as clean as everyone thought. But according to Bloomsburg Business, the International Council on Clean Transportation partnered with West Virginia University's Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines, and Emissions to conduct the damning tests. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) also conducted tests. It took threatening to withhold certification of 2016 VW diesels by the EPA before VW admitted to its ruse.
Green Car Buyers
Nearly half a million car buyers between 2009 and 2015 (482,000 cars in the United States) chose to pay about $3,000 more for clean diesel models than gasoline versions of the same car. These people are now mad enough to join a class-action lawsuit against VW in addition to enjoying the schadenfreude of former VW head Martin Winterkorn facing criminal charges.
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