Supplier Series : Bosch – An Ethics Match Made in Heaven? (or Hell)

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You’re out there in the pre-dawn chill, spanner in hand, coaxing a diesel engine to life. It’s a beast – raw, unyielding, forged in industrial grit. But crack open the bonnet and it’s not just one maker’s work. Bosch components – fuel rails and injectors – pulse inside, slick as a switchblade. They make the engine sing, but Bosch’s hands are stained by emissions scams, wartime sins and sanction-skirting deals. These parts may be the perfect ethical match for a diesel engine built without illusions of purity.

Dieselgate: The Cheat Underneath
Bosch helped design and supply engine control software that enabled Volkswagen and Fiat Chrysler to cheat emissions tests. Evidence appears in the U.S. EPA’s amended complaint in the VW case, detailing Bosch’s role in providing customised defeat-device software for VW’s diesel engines. In California, Bosch agreed in 2022 to pay US$25 million as part of a settlement with the California Air Resources Board. German authorities fined Bosch approximately €90 million in 2019 for negligent oversight. These penalties confirm Bosch’s central role in a scandal that choked the air.

Bosch’s defence: cooperate and patch code, not admit guilt. A familiar refrain in emissions scandals. If Bosch tech lurks in your engine, it hums that Dieselgate betrayal beneath the steel.

WWII: Sweat and Blood in the Factory Lines
In the 1940s, Bosch ran “shadow factories” deep in German forests. One plant near Hildesheim used over 3,100 forced labourers, roughly a third of its workforce, producing equipment for the Wehrmacht. Across its network, Bosch employed at least 20,000 forced workers under Nazi rule – systemic exploitation, not incidental. Bosch has since funded research and acknowledged this dark chapter, but the stain remains. Not that any of this would weigh on some buyers at Cummins (read “The Hate They Didn’t Condemn”).

Cummins – founded 1919 in the US – sidestepped that wartime baggage. Yet Bosch parts wire that grim echo into your engine’s roar.

Russia: Sanctions and Shame
After Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Bosch components turned up in Russian military vehicles, prompting German investigations into export-control breaches. Bosch paused deliveries and launched internal reviews while authorities probed into 2023. By 2024, its Russian subsidiary faced state-linked restructuring amid sanctions. Those supply-chain slip-ups tie Bosch tech to a geopolitical mess.

Cummins reportedly exited Russia swiftly, but Bosch tech in your engine links you to tangled geopolitics.

Greenwashing: The EV Dodge
In 2020, Bosch’s Decarbonising Road Transport report advocated multi-technology solutions but quietly defended combustion engines over full electrification. Analysts criticised it as greenwashing – protecting Bosch’s diesel interests as the industry pivoted electric. When Bosch parts drive your engine, they carry that old-school defiance against the electric tide.

Cummins invests in electrification and hydrogen, but Bosch’s manoeuvre shows how deep diesel interests run.

Brake Booster Recall: A Crack in the Armour
In late 2021, Volkswagen and Porsche recalled certain 2020–21 models due to faulty Bosch electric brake boosters – loose input rods risking pedal failure and increased crash danger. The recall covered several VW and Porsche variants. The issue dented Bosch’s precision-engineering rep, though no widespread accidents were confirmed. Grounded in NHTSA records, this recall is a reminder that even critical safety tech can harbour flaws.

The Raw Takeaway
Bosch isn’t clean. Dieselgate’s tens-to-hundreds-million-dollar settlements. WWII’s forced-labour wounds. Russia sanctions probes. Greenwashing gambits. Recurring emissions ties. Brake failures. Their components – world-class, relentless – power engines everywhere. Cummins isn’t spotless either, but Bosch brings deeper geopolitical and historical baggage. When your diesel (yes, we dare use the word) fires up, you’re running on more than metal. You’re powering a legacy of compromise.

Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project

Sources (verified 16 June 2025)

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