This editorial from the Chicago Tribune does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Spokesman-Review editorial board.

There was a time when car shopping involved questions about price, performance and warranties. Maybe it’s time to update the list of questions:

• Do your vehicles accelerate unintentionally, as Toyota’s did?

• Do the ignition switches on your vehicles ever turn off suddenly while cruising on the highway, as GM’s did?

• Do your emissions systems evade federal law and secretly spew fumes, as Volkswagen’s did?

The dangerous errors and calculating behavior of some auto manufacturers are astonishing.

Toyota paid a $1.2 billion penalty in 2014 to settle federal charges that it concealed safety defects that caused sudden-acceleration incidents. Last week, GM agreed to pay a $900 million fine for failing to disclose the installation of defective ignition switches that have been linked to the deaths of more than 100 people.

Now comes Volkswagen.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the German automaker slipped a “defeat device” into the emissions systems of diesel vehicles. In effect, the government charged, VW hacked its own engines so cars could detect when they were hooked up to a government pollution test. Engines would clean up instantly.

The scope of this scandal is stunning: Volkswagen said Tuesday that 11 million cars worldwide are fitted with the software responsible for the cheating. In the U.S., Volkswagen will need to recall and fix 482,000 vehicles. The company faces fines under the Clean Air Act that could total $37,500 per car, as much as $18 billion. The Justice Department is reportedly pursuing a criminal investigation. VW’s stock has plunged about 30 percent this week.

Volkswagen didn’t report its behavior; the company got caught by federal and California investigators. The rigged cars emitted up to 35 times the legally allowed amount of nitrogen oxide, a component of smog. Running dirty apparently improved acceleration and gas mileage. The cars involved in the U.S. include the 2009-2015 diesel versions of the Jetta, Beetle, Golf and Audi A3, and 2014-2015 Passats.

“Our company was dishonest, with the EPA and the California Air Resources Board,” Michael Horn, Volkswagen’s U.S. boss, said this week at a New York Auto Show event. “We have totally screwed up.”

Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn, in a video statement Tuesday, said he was “endlessly sorry” and acknowledged the company’s culpability. “To make it very clear: Manipulation at VW must never happen again.”

(He resigned Wednesday.)

International competition has benefited consumers with far more reliable, technologically advanced, fuel efficient – and fun – cars. You’re more likely to have a better shopping experience these days, thanks in part to Internet research tools.

The Toyota and GM controversies do not seem to have shaken consumer confidence – sales figures have generally been strong.

Perhaps VW can weather the storm too. But you have to wonder at what point consumers lose basic trust.