Question

Read the following article and answer the questions at the end.

Your car air conditioner may be slowly killing you

Millions of drivers are inhaling hazardous air as air-con systems in popular cars fail to filter toxic particles. The poor ventilation in some cars is unable to throw out toxic particles coming mainly from other vehicle's exhausts and can cause asthma attacks and other illnesses.

In a startling revelation, researchers at Emissions Analytics in Britain analyzed pollution of the air inside 11 cars and discovered Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Polo and Toyota C-HR were the three worst performers. Emissions Analytics, an independent global testing and data specialist for the scientific measurement of real-world emissions, stated that Toyota C-HR removed just one per cent of poisonous particles, VW Polo removed 35 per cent, and Ford Fiesta threw out 40 per cent of particles on a polluted road. While, Meredes-Benz E-class filtered out 90 per cent of pollutants even in heavy traffic.

Nick Molden, CEO at Emissions Analytics, said one of the key problems was that there are no government standards for the filtration systems. "There is little data to tell consumers what they are buying. So if you have kids with asthma or other conditions you cannot tell if the car you are buying will protect them," Daily Mail quoted Molden as saying in The Sunday Times.

According to Emissions Analytics, 57,000 toxic particles are found in every cubic centimetre of roadside air samples, strongly indicating drivers are inhaling up to 28million particles with every breath.

Post the shocking data, Volkswagen said its cars were fitted with multiple filters to remove particles and it 'planned to fit a particulate sensor in future models'. While, Toyota - a family favorite in the UK said it was not aware of the problem and it will be looking into the 'surprising' figures.

Questions:

Q1.	What is the issue?	2
Q2.	Who are the stakeholders involved in the case? And why do you think they are the stake holders? (List all)	2
Q3.	How the issue is affecting the various stake holders?	3
Q4.	What steps be taken to improve the situation?	2
Q5.	How companies are responding to the situation?	1

Answer 1

1. The main problem is the poor ventilation system of cars which fail to throw out toxic air particles coming from other cars. This polluted air is inhaled by drivers and customers thus causing health and respiratory problems like asthma etc.

2. Stakeholder is a person or group of people who can affect or be affected by a given project. Stakeholders can be individuals working on a project, groups of people or organizations, or even segments of a population.

In this case following people are the stakeholders:

Community at large. This include customers including drivers driving the car. They are stakeholders . The health of these people is adversely affected. Customers pay the price and in return they expect a quality product which is safe for their health.

Manufacturers of Cars. They are the owners and are interested in the profitability which they can achieve by sling more cars and satisfying the customers.

Government. Government collect taxes from organizations. If the business organizations are earning profit then government can collect huge taxes and use for betterment of society.

Environmental Pressure groups are also stakeholders ad they ensure that environment is not damaged due to pollution.

3. Community is affected as toxic air pollution can harm health and lead to various health ailments like asthma etc.Also customers are not provided with a safe and efficient product in return of price paid by them

Manufacturers of cars are affected as unsatisfied customers will result in less sales and profits, thus the business may even close.

Government is affected because if the business is closed due to environmental pollution and unsatisfied customers then this will result in low revenues in the form of taxes for government, thus adversely affecting various infrastructure development projects.

Environmental Pressure groups are responsible for maintaining and providing clean pollution free environment to public by protesting against government policies and adopting other required measures.

4.The first and foremost step is developing an efficient ventilation system in cars which could throw out toxic wastes.

Proper research and development is required to bring out innovative and efficient products to reduce pollution.

Pollution standards should be set by Government and organizations emitting pollution more than the set standards should be severely penalized.

Subsidies and other benefits should be given to manufacturers who come out with environment friendly and fuel efficient products.

5. Companies are surprised and shocked because of this alarming situation.It seems as if they were not aware of the health hazards caused by poor air ventilation systems in Volkswagen responded by saying that it has multiple filters installed to remove toxic particles and in future will further improve the technological system by using sensors.Toyota was not aware of the situation and will be looking into the alarming figures and take necessary required action.Meredes-Benz E-class is way ahead and used a system that filtered out 90 per cent of pollutants even in heavy traffic.