Articles: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-34324772 ; https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44005844
Dieselgate, the Diesel Dupe, the Diesel Emissions Scandal; these are just a few of the names that have haunted Volkswagen over the past 4 years. When the Volkswagen scandal uprooted in September of 2015, the company was forced to admit to cheating emissions tests that made around 580,000 cars that were sold seem to perform with higher statistics, all while keeping emissions under the required level. The device used to cheat the system turned on an alternate mode in the car to reduce emissions as well as performance, but as soon as the test was over, the performance was once again enhanced. Of course, the engineers in charge of hiding this device were all fired, as well as several people at the top of the Volkswagen hierarchy. Volkswagen had to pay $25 billion worth of damages, and buy all of the illegally sold cars back from the consumers. But the real question is, what could have prompted the engineers to proceed with this illegal project?
Every engineer, after receiving an ABET accredited, they pledge to avoid any deceptive acts to the public (#5 of the Fundamental Canons). Because engineering is a profession, it is up to the engineer to resist any requests by employers to complete tasks that break these codes of ethics, even if it requires being a whistleblower. Obviously, there are motivations that an engineer may decide are worth breaking the code of ethics, which is really a tough situation. Many engineers have dream jobs that they aspire to have, and in many cases, engineers learn sensitive secrets about their dream jobs and have to choose; “Do I pretend not to notice any of this and just make a ton of money?” Or, “Do I notify the big guy in charge, and if he sweeps it under the rug, notify the media?” In many cases, people choose not to notify the media, and it really takes someone with high moral standards to step out and notify the world that bad things are happening within their company.
The heavy task given to all of us as engineers-in-the-making is to maintain paramount these code of ethics, above all other captivating temptations. Scandals like this are what is preventing some of the most valuable innovations. Politics, as well as other factors like money and public perspective, are some of the other factors resisting innovation, but the code of ethics also needs to be high on the list of priority of young engineers as regulators of innovation. In fact, they should be what drive engineers to innovate in the world, because the only innovations we need are ones that make the world a better place, specifically keeping the environment in mind after what the UN has reported as far as the Earth’s sustainable capabilities. The pledge that engineers make is something that must be honored, and if it is not, consequences even more dire than fines will occur.