"They have killed thousands of people from air pollution  by deliberately cheating the system designed to protect people...then there is the climate change effect.... Doesn't get much worse than that. Volkswagen's rigging of emissions tests for 11m cars means they may be responsible for nearly 1m tonnes of air pollution every year...an increasing proportion of the toxic NO2 gas has been detected in EU diesel emissions. A study in the British Medical Journal in May found that short-term exposure to NO2 increased the number of premature deaths from heart and lung disease by 0.88% and 1.09%. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/22/vw-scandal-caused-nearly-1m-tonnes-of-extra-pollution-analysis-shows"