Although Volkswagen’s diesel emissions scandal hit the headlines more than two years ago, another shocking revelation has now come to light.
In a bid to prove that emissions produced by its TDI models were not as harmful as those emitted by older diesel engines, VW was involved in a test subjecting 10 monkeys to fumes from a Beetle, The New York Times reports.
The test was re-enacted in the first episode of Dirty Money, which recently debuted on Netflix.
The study took place in 2014 and was reportedly commissioned by the European Research Group on Environment and Health in the Transport Sector, a group funded by VW, Daimler, BMW and Bosch.
Of course, it later emerged that the Beetle used in the research was fitted with a so-called “defeat device” capable of cutting its engine’s emissions under certain testing conditions.
Volkswagen has apologised for what it termed “misconduct”.
“We apologise for the misconduct and the lack of judgment of individuals… We’re convinced the scientific methods chosen then were wrong. It would have been better to do without such a study in the first place,” Volkswagen said in a statement.
Daimler, however, distanced itself from the research, according to Bloomberg.
“We believe the animal tests in this study were unnecessary and repulsive,” Daimler said. “We explicitly distance ourselves from the study.”
Bosch said that it had removed itself from the group in 2013, while BMW also moved to distance itself from the trial.
