Volkswagen Emissions, and Big Pharma

You know the basic story at this point - the emission control system was programmed to detect when emissions were being checked (brakes, steering, gear, etc.), and then, and only then, have the system work properly.

Why do this?
Well, costs, most likely (or , "costs, of course!").  By minimizing the operating time and conditions, you can save gobs of money per car, and money is good.
<sarcasm>
Besides, its only emissions y'know? I mean, what difference does that make?  Its not like it actually hurts anybody, not to mention "clean air" is just one of those liberal things that nobody except a bunch of tree huggers actually cares about
</sarcasm>

Which, to my mind, is exactly what Big Pharma does.  Y'know how Pfizer / Merck / J&J / Glaxo / ... have paid over $13 Billion over the last few years in fines?
Its almost always over them actively promoting "off-label" uses of their drugs - which basically consisted of the companies saying "Yeah, this drug is used as an anti-psychotic, but you can use it for clinical depression".
When confronted, the responses range from "Well, its not like it caused any harm y'know?" to "The FDA is a big ol' meanie"
So yeah, the $13 Billion in fines look huge, but they pale in comparison to the profits.  And frankly, if I had to pay $1B in fines, to get $2B in profits, well hell, thats an easy one, no?

So yeah, my guess it that this is the bottom line for Volkswagen, they probably thought long and hard about it, and said "fuck it, lets play by Big Pharma rules".  There will probably be a huge fine of some kind, but its not like they'll care...
Its really just all about the money...