MODEST STUDY, EXPLOSIVE FINDINGS: West Virginia University's $50,000 research project exposed deceit that will cost Volkswagen billions

摘要

The Volkswagen emissions scandal that grabbed world headlines in September was old news to faculty and students engaged in a modestly funded research project at West Virginia University. It had been 15 months since their discovery of huge discrepancies between the pollutants emitted by VW diesel vehicles in laboratory tests and on the open road. Their findings caught the attention of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which determined that the global carmaker installed illegal "defeat devices" to override emission controls and boost the cars' driving performance and fuel economy. WVU's work offers an example of small-scale independent research with an outsize impact on public health and corporate accountability.