You say that as though they shot them or discussed the possible body count in a meeting.
Sure, people died as a far downstream result of a bunch of cars polluting a lot more than they supposedly did. The effect is far enough downstream that it's not really relevant. The alternative to VW breaking the law was not a pollution free world. People die as a result of things that are technically preventable all the time but society does not have the resources to allocate to preventing every "preventable" death or disease.
We as a society don't judge people by every downstream effect of their actions.
The lithium mine required to supply some of the materials for the computer or phone you typed that poorly thought out comment on probably isn't doing good things to the people that work at it.
I'm sure you own a few products that "fund terrorism" (or some other boogeyman) somewhere up the supply chain.
The world is a dirty place. Trying to make an example out of everyone who contributes to it just makes it dirtier.