Volkswagen scandal caused a thousand of fatality?

The emission scandal of Volkswagen is still fresh in memory. The company was revealed to have secretly installed a defeat device for the purpose of pretending the emission level. At last, Volkswagen had to recall millions of diesel cars and pay massive compensation.

In addition, a research team in Massachusetts Institute of Technology published an estimation that over 1,000 people had been killed by excessive emission of Volkswagen.

Independent: Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal to cause more than a thousand premature deaths, MIT study finds

It is evident that exhaust gas is harmful to human. However, I am doubtful that many people chose Volkswagen with misunderstanding its emission level for their health concern. The reason that low emission level is required is to minimize the adverse influence on the environment rather than an individual.

In this sense, I think the report by MIT is overrepresenting. Nonetheless, the act of Volkswagen was far from acceptable.