It's not a "mistake," that's the issue. This is the largest "corporate fraud with criminal intent" ever committed, according to the Financial Times, which has a good piece comparing this to Enron.  It's behind a paywall, but you should be able to get to it by Googling  "Seven reasons Volkswagen is worse than Enron" and clicking on the link that comes up.  It's worth reading.

There is a special relationship between local governments in Germany and VW because they own special stock that gives them control over the company, and VW's relationship with governments is extraordinary.  Business Week has a good article on this (free): http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-24/did-privilege-enable-volkswagen-s-diesel-deception- 

With all the lawsuits and potential buy-backs this could bring down the company.

Stuart
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Dan N
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 11:10 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: NVC Re: VW, honour, and culture

according to what I read so far... all car manufacturers cheat one way or another - it happened in the past and going on now - they will find more...

the only thing I don't understand is why VW mistake is a BIG issue now..

looks like they dig in a trash bin and pull out a BIG piece of trash.. but trash is trash big or small...  it's still trash... right?