Diesel Emissions Defeat Device Disclosure Ledger

PROBLEM: Volkswagen agreed in June 2016 to spend up to $14.7 billion to settle allegations by the DOJ, EPA, FTC, and California that it equipped nearly 500,000 model-year 2009–2015 2.0-liter diesel vehicles with software that detected emissions testing and turned on full emissions controls only during testing (DOJ, June 28, 2016). Vehicles emitted nitrogen oxides at up to 40 times the standard in normal driving while being advertised as "clean diesel." Test-mode behaviour and road behaviour were never reconciled in one auditable record.

SOLUTION: A compliance ledger in IBM Cloud Ideas that records emissions-control software versions, test-cycle versus on-road emissions measurements, and every disclosure to regulators, with immutable version history and an automatic flag when test and road behaviour diverge beyond a stated threshold.

EVIDENCE BASIS: DOCUMENTED — DOJ/EPA/FTC/California settlement, June 2016: up to $14.7 billion (up to $10.03 billion consumer buyback/compensation, $2.7 billion mitigation, $2 billion zero-emission investment); ~500,000 affected vehicles.