Sure VW has hurt their customers. They sold them illegal cars. Those cars can only have the performance they promised if they pollute the environment and break environmental laws.
All VW customers should demand full refunds. They were defrauded.
All VW customers should demand full refunds. They were defrauded.
Saying that someone broke the law doesn't mean they did anything ethically wrong. I think it would be an uphill battle to demonstrate if/how VW harmed their customers.
"NOx" is the label for a group of chemicals that includes NO2 (the combustion prouduct) but not N2O (laughing gas).
It doesn't?
Because NOx decomposes (with sunlight) into O3, and O3 is a major urban pollutant, the harm is very real.
If news reports are to be believed, there were 30-40x violations of expected emissions.
The harm done to customers will be really obvious in those jurisdictions where customers have to get this fixed to maintain their registration, since power and fuel efficiency will be affected.
"NOx should not be confused with nitrous oxide (N2O), which is a greenhouse gas and has many uses as an oxidizer, an anesthetic, and a food additive." -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOx