I agree. The US legal system has historically been way more lenient on financial companies than automobile companies. In the case of Enron, they had a lot of financial incentive for their actions, with only the prospect of a few fines as the expected downside. I don't see that being the case for GM, Toyota, etc.

Because they're slightly different cases considering how they begin. The GM and Toyota cases are that they screwed up. They failed to design a safe system. Meanwhile this VW case and those financial cases are that they designed the system intentionally to screw up other people. It's like accidental homicide vs murder.