VW--Oooopsie

[Big Dave2]

2 hours ago, delcecchi said:

OK, is the gas can thing an epa mandate or the result of a bunch of mass produced lawsuits against gas can manufacturers on behalf of every fool in the country?   I believed it was the lawsuits, yet you guys keep talking about the epa.   Can someone provide some evidence that in fact the epa has anything to do with it?  

 

We need tort reform or me and bigdave on all the juries.  

 

 

Quote

New Regulations for Portable Fuel Containers

Gas cans redesigned to improve safety and eliminate spillage

 

What is a portable fuel container?

A portable fuel container (PFC) is a receptacle for holding small amounts of fuel ranging in size from 1 gallon to 5 gallons or more. They are commonly used by homeowners to store fuel for lawn mowers, string trimmers, or blowers. The EPA estimates that there are about 80 million PFCs in use in the United States.

 

What are the new regulations?

The EPA regulations are based on requirements started in Califormia by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in 2000 and updated in 2007. Since 2000, individual states have been slowly following suit, but the new EPA regulations will bring all states in line and by January 1, 2009 all new PFCs produced and sold in the United States will be compliant.

 

The regulations impose:

A single, self venting opening for filling and pouring with no separate vents or openings

A treated can body for minimal permeation of fuels

Automatic closure, meaning a nozzle which automatically springs to the closed position when not pouring

Childproof features as designated by the Children’s Gasoline Burn Prevention Act

 

Why are there new regulations?

There are an estimated 3.27 billion gallons of fuel dispensed by over 80 million PFCs in the United States. This results in an estimated 70, 262 gallons of spilled fuel annually.

 

The danger of spilled fuels comes in the form of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that escape into the atmosphere whenever gas leaves a container. The new regulations focus on VOCs ability to permeate through the plastic of the container and emissions released when pouring or caps are left off. VOCs are considered a greenhouse gas and their release can also contaminate ground water.

 

[delcecchi]

So being a crook is ok, since everyone else is a crook in your mind.  OK, got it. 

[swamptiger]

55 minutes ago, delcecchi said:

So being a crook is ok, since everyone else is a crook in your mind.  OK, got it. 

 

 

So you would be on board with making the regulatory agencies accountable for fraud, as well.

OK, got it.

[Big Dave2]

1 hour ago, delcecchi said:

So being a crook is ok, since everyone else is a crook in your mind.  OK, got it. 

 

Who are you talking to?

[RebelSS]

Does anyone really care?

[delcecchi]

And the issue drags on.... One down.... and another soon. 

Volkswagen Engineer Sentenced for Role in Emissions Fraud

James Liang sentenced to 40 months imprisonment, exceeding prosecutors’ request

 

 

Volkswagen engineer James Liang leaves a Detroit court Sept. 6 after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy in the company's emissions cheating scandal. Photo: Virginia Lozano/Associated Press

By

Adrienne Roberts and

Mike Spector

Updated Aug. 25, 2017 2:59 p.m. ET

11 COMMENTS

 

A Volkswagen VLKAY 1.30% engineer was sentenced to 40 months imprisonment and will pay a $200,000 fine for participating in the German auto giant’s emissions-cheating deception after cooperating with U.S. prosecutors in their criminal investigation of the yearslong conspiracy to defraud government officials and customers.

James Liang, 63 years old, received the sentence from U.S. District Judge Sean Cox  on Friday morning during a hearing in a Detroit federal court. Mr. Liang in September pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to defraud the U.S., commit wire fraud and violate the Clean Air Act for his role in helping Volkswagen evade emissions requirements with diesel-powered vehicles. 

Mr. Liang, a German national, has agreed to be removed from the U.S. following his prison term, according to prosecutors. He moved to and settled in the U.S. with his family in 2008 to help Volkswagen launch diesel-powered vehicles and handled certification, testing and warranty issues, prosecutors said.

 

The more than three years in prison the judge imposed exceeded prosecutors’ recommendation. They had asked that Mr. Liang receive three years imprisonment and a $20,000 fine.

Mr. Liang is one of eight individuals charged in a U.S. Justice Department probe of Volkswagen’s nearly decadelong conspiracy to rig nearly 600,000 diesel-engine vehicles with illegal software that allowed them to cheat on government emissions tests while polluting far beyond legal limits on the road. Volkswagen, which has acknowledged the software is on about 11 million vehicles globally, earlier this year pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the U.S. stemming from the deception and agreed to pay billions of dollars in penalties.

Mr. Liang was dressed in a dark green suit during Friday’s hearing, with his wife and three children seated in the first row of the courtroom. Speaking on behalf of Mr. Liang, his counsel Daniel Nixon said he has taken the right steps by cooperating with the U.S. government and he’s “not a greedy man, he’s not a criminal in the sense of preying on others. We’re not saying he didn’t commit a crime, but he’s a good and decent person. He blindly executed a crime because of a misguided loyalty to his employer.”

Judge Cox said Mr. Liang was an “important member of a long-term conspiracy involving Volkswagen engineers and senior management. This is a stunning fraud on the American consumer. This is a very serious and troubling crime against our economic system.”

Mr. Liang, an engineer at Volkswagen since 1983, helped the auto maker install so-called defeat devices on diesel-powered vehicles after he and his colleagues realized the engines couldn’t meet stringent U.S. emissions limits while maintaining the fuel economy and performance customers expected, prosecutors said in a legal memorandum filed before Friday’s sentencing.

 

Mr. Liang “was instrumental in calibrating the vehicles” so they would fully engage pollution controls during laboratory emissions tests and then reduce their effectiveness on the road to allow nitrogen oxide to be released from tailpipes at over 30 times the legal limit, according to prosecutors. In addition to working on the illegal software, Mr. Liang helped Volkswagen mislead environmental regulators when they questioned the auto maker’s emissions practices.

Mr. Liang cooperated with prosecutors in the early stages of their investigation of Volkswagen and its employees. The engineer’s help included “extensive debriefings with the government in which he provided an insider’s perspective of a company that had lost its ethical moorings in pursuit of increased market share and corporate profits,” prosecutors said.

Mr. Liang’s cooperation with prosecutors provided evidence that helped lead to charges against others who worked at Volkswagen, including Oliver Schmidt, who led the auto maker’s environment and engineering office in Michigan for several years.

Mr. Schmidt earlier this month pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and violating environmental law for concealing the use of illegal emissions software from U.S. and California regulators. He was arrested in January at Miami International Airport before boarding a flight to Germany.

A former engine-development manager at Volkswagen luxury-unit Audi was charged in July. Others charged are believed to reside in Germany and aren’t likely to be extradited to the U.S. to face charges.

-----------------------------------

Former VW Compliance Executive Pleads Guilty in Emissions Case

Oliver Schmidt admits he conspired to help diesel-powered vehicles evade U.S. emissions requirements

 

A former Volkswagen AG VLKAY 1.30% compliance executive pleaded guilty to criminal charges stemming from his role in the German auto maker’s yearslong emissions-cheating deception.

Oliver Schmidt, a German citizen who for several years headed Volkswagen’s environment and engineering office in Auburn Hills, Mich., pleaded guilty in a Detroit federal court on Friday, admitting he helped diesel-powered vehicles evade U.S. emissions requirements.

Under terms of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Oliver Schmidt faces up to seven years in prison.

Mr. Schmidt, 48 years old, was charged with participating in a nearly decadelong conspiracy to defraud U.S. officials and customers with vehicles that featured illegal software allowing them to dupe government emissions tests while polluting far beyond legal limits on the road. Volkswagen earlier this year pleaded guilty to criminal charges stemming from the scandal, and other individuals were also charged.

In a superseding criminal information, federal prosecutors charged Mr. Schmidt with one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., commit wire fraud and violate the Clean Air Act. Prosecutors also leveled a second stand-alone charge of violating the Clean Air Act.

 

U.S. District Judge Sean Cox accepted Mr. Schmidt’s guilty plea during a hearing Friday morning. He scheduled Mr. Schmidt’s sentencing for Dec. 6.

Under terms of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Mr. Schmidt faces up to seven years in prison and a fine ranging between $40,000 and $400,000. The agreement requires he be deported from the U.S. after completing his prison sentence. Prosecutors dropped an additional wire fraud charge in exchange for Mr. Schmidt’s plea, a court spokesman said.

Volkswagen in March pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the U.S. and has admitted to rigging nearly 600,000 diesel-powered vehicles with software designed to evade emissions testing. The company has said the software is on some 11 million vehicles globally.

A Volkswagen spokesman said the auto maker continues to cooperate with U.S. Justice Department probes of individuals and declined to comment further. In the U.S. alone, legal settlements could cost Volkswagen more than $25 billion, depending on how many vehicles the auto maker ends up repurchasing to compensate consumers.

Mr. Schmidt, dressed in ared prison jumpsuit and shackles, admitted to the judge during Friday’s hearing that he knew about Volkswagen’s use of the illegal softwareto mislead environmental regulators. The engineer told the judge he “omitted information about how VW intentionally installed defeat devices” during August 2015 discussions with regulators who had been probing the high output of pollutants from Volkswagen vehicles.

Mr. Schmidt has been behind bars in Michigan and had planned to stand trial before agreeing to plead guilty. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested Mr. Schmidt in January at Miami International Airport before he boarded a flight to Germany. He will remain imprisoned while he awaits sentencing.

Volkswagen’s admission that it used software to manipulate the results of emission testing to sidestep pollution standards in millions of cars has rocked the automaker. And the figures involved are pretty staggering.

While heading Volkswagen’s environment and engineering office in Michigan from 2012 to early 2015, he liaised with U.S. and California regulators on compliance matters, according to prosecutors. Mr. Schmidt learned of cheating software on Volkswagen vehicles during the summer of 2015, according tohis plea agreement. In the ensuing months, Mr. Schmidt proceeded to conceal Volkswagen’s use of the software from regulators, and he knew of fraudulent reports on vehicle emissions submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency, according to the plea agreement.

Mr. Schmidt is one of eight individuals charged in the U.S. in Volkswagen’s emissions cheating. A former engine-development manager at Volkswagen luxury-unit Audi was charged in July. One engineer has pleaded guilty and is set to be sentenced later this month. Others charged are believed to reside in Germany and aren’t likely to be extradited to the U.S. to face charges.