Bosch Can't Escape Its Past as American Lawyers Close In
Lawyers representing U.S. Volkswagen owners claim European auto parts supplier Bosch was a willing accomplice in the scheme to deceive diesel buyers and regulators.
The scandal forced the automaker into a $15.3 billion settlement in the U.S., but its corporate partners escaped relatively unscathed. That might not be the case anymore, Bloomberg reports.
In a court filing obtained by the news outlet, lawyers behind the Volkswagen lawsuit claim Bosch was an “active participant in a massive, decade-long conspiracy with VW.” Bosch is listed as a defendant in the suit.
We already know that the automaker waited years to use the defeat device installed in diesel vehicles. Audi reportedly developed the technology in 1999, which Volkswagen then borrowed to fool emissions regulators around the world. The litigants say Bosch helped develop the device using its own software, then helped the automaker cover up the deception.
Bosch touted the vehicles’ “clean diesel” technology and lobbied regulators to approve them for sale, the documents state. The source of the claims come from documents handed over by Volkswagen prior to its settlement.
According to Reuters, the court filing came one day after sources said the automaker was holding talks with the U.S. Department of Justice to settle its criminal investigation.
If Bosch is scared of looming legal action, it isn’t showing it. A spokesperson for the supplier told Bloomberg that it hasn’t boosted its legal funds, which stand at $750 million.
More by Steph Willems
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They probably thought what they were doing was no more than a sharp practice, gaming of the system. As the years wear on, the second and third generation of colluders probably had no conception of how far afield they were. Price-fixing as a serious matter is fairly recent. When they sent the first few execs to jail in 1960-61 in a case, it created a sensation. When the conspiracy was ongoing, the Holiday inn where the price fixers liked to meet would sometimes run "Welcome price-fixing" on its marquee.
I seem to recall within hours of the first word coming out about VW getting caught, Bosch issued a press release basically saying, "WE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT!" I remember thinking, uh, no one said you did...and why would you issue a statement when your name had yet to be mentioned? Maybe VW and Bosch share the same PR firm...
To me there can only be one 'evil one' Either VW asked Bosch to help them build a defeat device in which case VW are the evil ones or....... Bosch approached VW and said, look what our R&D team came up with, you interested? In which case Bosch is the evil one. They may both share the guilt, but one has to be on the hook as the instigator/master architect.
I remember reading that Bosch put the cheat code in there for VW to test, but warned them not to implement during production. Start looking for those emails, because the lawyers will call out every company that has their name attached to any part of the systems envolved.