The GM issue was enormous for literally years. Further the GM issue -- where key assembly had less torsion than expected, leading to the possibility of heavy keychains or unintended hits turning off the vehicle -- was never shown to be anything more than an isolated engineering mistake by a few engineers, who then actively covered up their own mistake. GM wasn't profiteering by having less tension than expected -- it didn't sell them cars, and it didn't save them money. The malice was not profiteering or circumventing. And for that they paid a $900 million dollar fine, and will pay out billions in lawsuits in virtually any case where the key turned off, even if it was actually operator error.GM is in no universe blameless, but considerations that hold it like murder are irrational.
VW actively and intentionally misled consumers and regulators to sell cars promising mileage and power levels they don't actually achieve without actually cheating the system. They sold hundreds of thousands of cars -- at the cost of significant air pollution (some 200,000 Americans, and millions worldwide, are estimated to die from air pollution yearly) -- based upon these essentially lies. They actively promoted their eco-friendliness, and their great fuel economy, neither of which are actually true in concert.
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