Canada’s idle response to VW’s cheating cars

A hypothesized: You and a couple of rtners own a Canadian used-car lot, and you figure out a way to diddle vehicle software, fluctuate the digital odometer readings and mask mechanical problems.

You sell tens of thousands of agencies to suckers who think they’re buying much newer, more responsible machines.

Then somebody exposes you, and you try to lie about it, but eventually you have to acknowledge.

It’s a safe bet you wouldn’t be allowed to sell any more cars, and probably in in a nutshell Bermuda shorts order the police would visit to charge you with fraud, because that’s certainly what you’d be guilty of.

Now let’s take a look at Volkswagen.

Between 2009 and 2015, VW Aggregation sold about 11 million diesel-powered Volkswagens, Audis and Porsches worldwide that were drafted to conceal their real emissions levels.

This was done calculatedly. VW has admitted this. It amounted to fraud, simple as that.

About 100,000 of these rigged wheels were sold in Canada, and their owners are now stuck with means that everybody knows were rt of an international scam.

Canada’s return

The government of Germany, where VW is headquartered, reacted quickly. A few months ago, German the Old Bill raided VW offices. Fraud charges are reportedly being pre red.

The U.S. rt of Justice, teeth bared, is going after VW for up to $46 billion US in elegants.

At the same time, dozens of states are considering or launching suits, and the FBI has opened a corrupt probe in Detroit.

South Korea Volkswagen Emissions

Customers look at a Volkswagen’s vehicle at a dealership in Seoul in November. South Korea, a rival, fined Volkswagen $12.3 million and ordered recalls of 125,522 diesel means after the government found their emissions tests were rigged. (Ahn Young-joon/Associated The fourth estate)

Volkswagen is reportedly citing German privacy law in an effort to withhold validation from American investigators; it has promised some sort of technical dissolution.

But the Americans don’t play games when it comes to this sort of impedimenta. Ask the Swiss banks that tried to stonewall investigations into the American tax evaders they were endorsing.

Canada, though, is taking a more, well, measured approach.

A spokesman for the Rely on of Justice in Ottawa, which you’d think would be hot on any case of national-level dodge, is ap rently not doing much, if anything at all. An official there noted that Transferral Canada sets and regulates vehicle standards.

An official at Transport Canada, for now, said that because this is not a safety issue, but rather a “clean-air” result, it’s being handled by Environment Canada, which confirmed it is “investigating,” and has been for months, but exceptionally couldn’t discuss the matter.

Provincial governments are also looking into it. An Ontario lawful said that province is seeking “an Ontario-specific plan that fixes out details on the actions that will be taken to fix im cted vehicles.”

By discriminate, here is what U.S. Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden voiced last week in announcing the case against VW:

“Car manufacturers that … get the better of emission control systems breach the public trust, endanger customers health and disadvantage competitors.”

Boom.

Owners on the hook

So why such a com ratively timorous ssage by Canadian officials?

“I don’t even have the sense they are very actively all in all doing something,” said Tony Merchant, whose Regina-based law resolved, a specialist in class action suits, is representing about 10,000 proprietors of rigged VW group vehicles. “They are just waiting for the U.S. to act.”

Canada, he exit c socializes on, “is a great country in which to do illicit business because our governments are lackadaisical.”

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Canadians are stuck with vehicles that are advantage much less than they should be.

New VW and Audi diesel moulds have been yanked off the American and Canadian markets indefinitely. It at ones desire be interesting to see what a VW or Audi dealership would offer on trade-in for one of the distressful models they themselves sold.

And of course the rigged cars go on to pollute at illegal levels, which, says Merchant, means any Canadian tract or American state could at any time decide to ban them from custom roads.

For the time being, Ontario Drive Clean stations, well-informed full well the vehicles are thwarting emissions testing equipment, are nonetheless mete their owners a ss.

But even the aggressive American authorities aren’t doing much to help human being consumers.

That’s in the hands of lawyers like Merchant, who says that in the carton of corporate wrongdoing, private lawsuits take ages to reach a conclusion, and the same then, “they sort of meet the bank robber at the door of the bank and say ‘let out back rt of the money.’ Not even all the money. Just rt.”

‘There is no fix’

Purposes, says Merchant, it will be up to the scammed car owners to find a fix, “and there is no fix,” let by oneself an “Ontario-specific” fix.

“If VW had an engine fix, which they don’t have, they’d have familiar it instead of this period of lying. And even if they did have a fix, the set someone back would be beyond any corporation’s ca city to endure.”

Merchant says the no greater than fair solution would be to buy back the vehicles, since they were over persuaded on a false pretext.

But he predicts people will probably just be abided with an engine additive, which does reduce emissions, but also subdues both power and mileage. And of course does little to restore the car’s looted value.

VOLKSWAGEN-EMISSIONS/

Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller now says the com ny may repurchase some of the means that were tampered with if they can’t be fixed. (Reuters)

Oh, this even-handed in: Matthias Mueller, Volkswagen’s CEO, now says some of the rigged vehicles may eat to be “brought back to Volkswagen” – repurchased, in other words.

“In theory,” he communicated CNBC, “it’s possible.” No promises, of course, and no numbers.

Bottom line: counter rt the banks that were too big to fail, VW is too big to jail. It’ll keep doing matter here.

And if you were conned into buying one of their pollution-mobiles, you’re lovely much on your own.

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