Originally Posted by
UltraFan
I cannot agree. The unspeakable crime of manipulating a computer chip in the engine to fake environmental readings cannot be compared to something as trivial as a system that flies a passenger plane into the ground.
The diesel pollution controls are there because the production of particulates and other pollutants are known to end lives. The difference between particulate emissions and airplane crashes is that it's not evident which lives, but the statistics are such that the effect is certain to happen.
The difference between the companies is that VW and Bosch not only knew that falsifying the software would indeed increase the number of unnecessarily early deaths, they also knew that they were acting specifically towards that outcome in order to make sales. Boeing, in contrast, does not seem to have known their efforts would lead to deaths.
The two cases, though with similar outcomes based on similar capitalistic motives, are (unless some memo or whistle blower says different) entirely different in their origin and morality.