[CamperBob2]

I also can't imagine how you wouldn't go buy a hundred VWs and meticulously take them apart and understand them after getting brutalized in the diesel market.

This is exactly how the auto industry works, contrary to the uninformed person(s) who modded you down. People should refrain from moderating posts from users who actually know what they're talking about.

For example, the first thing GM did when they began work on the current-generation Corvette was buy a Porsche 911 (from Volkswagen, no less) and study it in detail. This is an objective fact by GM's own admission (http://www.edmunds.com/porsche/911/2013/comparison-test.html). Competitive analysis is a key engineering strategy, no less important than any other.

It's inconceivable that other manufacturers weren't aware of exactly how VW's seemingly-impossible engineering worked. The only question is why they didn't rat them out to the EPA.

[WillPostForFood]

Here is an article with a tour of the GM teardown facility, so automakers unquestionably do it.

http://www.slashgear.com/the-auto-vivisectionist-inside-gms-...

That said, there is pretty much no US market for diesel outside the European imports. So they may not be focused on their diesel competitors enough to have done the teardown/research/testing to discover VW cheating. I find that more plausible than everyone cheats and everyone knows everyone else cheats.

[jt2190]

  > The only question is why [other manufacturers] didn't rat 
  > them out to the EPA.

Speculation: Ratting out VW carries some degree of risk that the public will become aware that there are better ways to test the emissions of vehicles. The public will then insist that the government legislate newer/better emissions testing, and the manufacturers will have an expensive new problem to solve. Better to keep quiet and let the existing, implemented and paid for (if flawed) process keep running.

[henrikschroder]

> It's inconceivable that other manufacturers weren't aware of exactly how VW's seemingly-impossible engineering worked. The only question is why they didn't rat them out to the EPA.

Everyone cheats, and preserving status quo is in the best interest of everyone.

[SapphireSun]

What worries me is that if this explodes across the industry, the common refrain will become that EPA guidelines are unrealistic and that's why everyone is cheating. Just what we need as the world is coming around to direly needed environmental regulation.

[Rambunctious]

Isn't it better for any individual/employee to have been a whistleblower under the False Claims Act - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_Claims_Act ?

According to the Wikipedia page "Persons filing under the Act stand to receive a portion (usually about 15–25 percent) of any recovered damages."