'Defeat Device' PowerPoint Presentation is Volkswagen's Latest Embarrassment

If you want your nefarious plan to stay on the down low, try not to make a PowerPoint presentation on it.

That’s an obvious takeaway from the New York Times report that details a bombshell discovery made by investigators probing documents and laptops related to Volkswagen’s diesel emissions scandal.

It’s already known that Audi designed the infamous “defeat device” at the heart of the scandal back in 1999, and that Volkswagen waited six years before deciding to use it.

But corporate culture being what it is, company representatives needed some pointers on the illicit technology. And thus, the incriminating PowerPoint was born.

The New York Times report, drawn from two sources who viewed the document, says the PowerPoint presentation was crafted by a senior technology executive in 2006, after the company made the decision to use the defeat device in its new “clean diesels”:

Just a few pages long, the 2006 presentation included a graph that explained the process for testing the amount of pollution spewing from a car. In a laboratory, regulators would try to replicate a variety of conditions on the road.

The pattern of those tests, the presentation said, was entirely predictable. And a piece of code embedded in the software that controlled the engine could recognize that pattern, activating equipment to reduce emissions just for testing purposes.

The technology was subsequently refined to recognize other signs of regulatory testing, according to hacker Felix Domke, who analyzed the software with the finest of combs.

Volkswagen and its executives failed to respond to requests for comment from the newspaper. The report doesn’t name the PowerPoint’s creator, and the question of who saw the presentation remains unanswered.

It’s possible some Volkswagen heads are still due for the chopping block, but the company has already paid an astronomical price for its consumer deception.

Besides sales that resemble a jetliner’s trajectory following a double bird strike, the company has carved out $18.2 billion from its struggling operation to fund last week’s settlement with U.S. consumers and regulators.