A study conducted by a group of researchers from Harvard and MIT on the environmental implications of the VW diesel emissions scandal indicates that the additional pollution caused by the affected vehicles could end up being responsible for up to 59 premature deaths.
VW has admitted to installing “defeat devices” in their 2.0 litre diesel engine models from 2009-2015. The discovery was made by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and since then the German automaker is facing huge setbacks in sales and potentially heavy fines.
The actual NOx emissions for the cars exceed the EPA standard by 10 to 40 factors. The study attempts to quantify the effects of the excess emissions on human health over the sales period 2008-2015 (2009 model cars were rolled out in 2008). The study also estimates that modifying the VW diesel emissions affected vehicles to reduce the emissions to acceptable levels by 2016 may help to avoid 130 early deaths and about $840 million in social costs.
It is important to note that the study is based on the number of affected vehicles sold in the US which is about 482,000. Applying an average of 60 premature deaths for every half million vehicles sold, that brings the number of premature deaths to 1,320 throughout the world considering the number of affected vehicles sold globally which is 11 million.