Quote:
Originally Posted by Hersbird
Finally it is something that should be regulated in the tight confines of a city, but really has no effect outside of certain specific areas like the LA valley. Tailpipe NOx from pinpoint sources here and there across the fruited plains is like peeing in the ocean.
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Piggybacking on this, it's up to the local environmental agencies to monitor and set thresholds for pollutants, and for government to set the regulations that meet those thresholds.
If NOx is too high in a particular city, it isn't the fault of a particular brand of vehicle, or even of diesels in general; it's the fault of those responsible for ensuring air quality meets certain standards. That might mean imposing certain disincentives to driving diesels through higher registration costs, or increasing the tax on diesel fuels, etc.
This is the reason I say VWs real crime was not playing by the same rules everyone else was. VW is not responsible to ensure air quality in every city in the world. VW is responsible to return profit to shareholders while playing by the rules. To that end, any executive that can be proven that they knew the rules were being broken should serve jail time to show that the penalty for cheating goes beyond monetary risk.