The Bug's Bug

I have a certain empathy for what Volkswagen did in order to get around the stringent nitrogen oxide emission regulations in the United States (mostly inspired by California where it was a causative of the once-choking smog). In 2005, the engineers at VW concluded that there was no possible way that they could meet these emission standards within the cost and time constraints that they then faced ... so they took the low road and developed a software override that made it appear that their diesel beetles passed this nitrogen oxide  test ... see: Earthlink News.

Don't get me wrong ... I am not encouraging such civil disobedience, but, then again, if our obsessive tree-huggers in government impose regulations that are beyond the limits of the then-current science, should they not expect such shenanigans as Volkswagen tried? And it's not like this VW nitrogen oxide misfeasance was like General Motors' malfeasance with its ignition switches which actually killed people. The evidence for this car's level of nitrogen oxide pollution causing serious short-term health problems seems quite tenuous. And in the long-term we all get felled by who knows what ... perhaps some other stupid government jack-booted regulation.