In September 2015, after the emissions scandal broke at Volkswagen, the head of the works council, Bernd Osterloh, wrote to the company’s employees. He demanded a fundamental change: Wir brauchen für die Zukunft ein Klima, in dem Probleme nicht versteckt, sondern offen an Vorgesetzte kommuniziert werden. (In future we need a climate in which problems are not hidden but communicated openly to superiors.) And: Wir brauchen eine Kultur, in der man mit seinem Vorgesetzten um den besten Weg streiten kann und darf. (We need a culture in which people can and may argue with their superior about the best way.) In 2011, a VW technician had warned the head of engine development about illegal practices. An internal audit later left open why that warning had no consequences.