Smoke Screen: The Dieselgate Scandal
Coming May 2026!
A Global Lie. Relentless Pressure. And the California Public Servants Who Stood Up for the Truth.
In Smoke Screen, Dr. Alberto Ayala — the former California Air Resources Board executive who led the technical investigation that unraveled Volkswagen’s “clean diesel” myth — reveals for the first time the inside story of the global scandal that changed the auto industry forever.
Told from inside the closed-door laboratories and conference rooms where the truth was fought for and defended, Smoke Screen traces three critical decisions that turned a quiet research study into a billion-dollar reckoning. From the first spark of curiosity in a Riverside café to the explosive confession that shook Wolfsburg, Ayala’s account exposes how data, integrity, and persistence triumphed over corporate deceit.
Follow the Data. Expose the Design.
Smoke Screen is the untold inside story of how a dedicated team of Caligornia regulators, engineers, and scientists uncovered the world’s biggest automotive deception. When Volkswagen’s “clean diesel” promise began to crumble, these public servants faced immense corporate pressure and political headwinds. Against all odds, they followed the data, exposed the lie, and ignited a global reckoning that forever changed the fight for clean air and corporate accountability.
About the Author
Dr. Alberto Ayala is a mechanical engineer and clean-air policy leader with over 30 years of experience shaping some of California’s most influential vehicle and air-quality regulations. As former Executive Director of the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District and Deputy Executive Officer at the California Air Resources Board (CARB), he helped guide the state’s transition toward cleaner, zero-emission technologies.
Dr. Ayala played a pivotal role in exposing Volkswagen’s “Dieselgate” emissions scandal, uncovering the critical evidence that revealed the automaker’s deception. His unique perspective—as engineer, regulator, and investigator—informs his forthcoming book, Smokescreen: The Dieselgate Scandal, which unpacks how the scheme was engineered, discovered, and why its lessons still matter today.
An adjunct faculty member at West Virginia University, Dr. Ayala writes with both technical authority and moral urgency, championing transparency, accountability, and clean mobility for the road ahead.
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The Cipherlock Principle
Every mystery leaves a trace. Every truth follows a pattern.
At Cipherlock Press, we follow both.