[lighthawk]

> those couple of software engineers would have to have a major say over the entire engine design. I call bullshit.

I agree. Developers wouldn't take that amount of corporate risk on for such a hack without having significant backing from management.

Even if they were completely on their own, which is impossible for me to believe, at some point another developer would have noticed and said something. Developers are smart enough to know anything that can go wrong will go wrong and that such a hack would be exposed, taking a lot of people down with it.

[kuschku]

The "individuals" VW is claiming are responsible are 10 managers and 3 top engineers, which include the head of R&D, the head of engine design and the head of Audi.

The definition of "individual" might be different between what VW claims and what you read, though.

[dclowd9901]

Michael Horn, CEO of VW America: "This was a couple of software engineers who put this in for whatever reason." That sounds nothing like what you're describing. The article alludes that many were suspended, but it doesn't directly attribute blame to them.

I find it impossible to believe any software engineer at the implementation level would assume that level of risk. This is obviously scapegoating. I really hope they set those engineers up for life, because they'll never be able to find another job again.

[kuschku]

Well, I’m extremely disappointed with VW US. VW Germany instantly had CEO resigning and taking full responsibility and in days started suspending top managers.

In contrast, VW US seems to be even more a bunch of liars.

[georgeek]

Well, he's kind of a dead card anyways, so why not use him through all the Congressional hearings. Replace him with someone else when the blizzard is over.

[Terr_]

Isn't that sort of like a company president blaming "unauthorized excesses by employees" while neglecting to mention that the "employees" were actually all VP-level?

It sounds to me like they're either casting the blame on the rank-and-file, or they're heavily bending the truth by trying to make it seem like the culprits were "merely" regular employees.

[tn13]

LOL. By that logic almost any decision in the company is essentially individual decision because only humans make decisions in a company.