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VW orders external probe into US charge of false emission data
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Volkswagen has ordered an external probe after US regulators found software the carmaker designed for diesel cars gave false emissions data, its CEO said yesterday, adding he was “deeply sorry” for the violation of US rules.
“I personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public,” Martin Winterkorn said in a statement published by the carmaker yesterday.
Volkswagen AG faces penalties of up to US$18 billion after being accused of designing software for diesel cars that deceives regulators measuring toxic emissions, the US Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday.
“Put simply, these cars contained software that turns off emissions controls when driving normally and turns them on when the car is undergoing an emissions test,” Cynthia Giles, a EPA enforcement officer, said on a teleconference.
VW can face civil penalties of US$37,500 for each vehicle not complying with federal clean air rules. There are 482,000 four-cylinder VW and Audi diesel cars sold since 2008 involved in the allegations. If each car involved is found to be in noncompliance, the penalty could be US$18 billion, an EPA official confirmed on the teleconference.
A US Volkswagen spokesman said the company “is cooperating with the investigation; we are unable to comment further at this time.”
The feature in question, which the EPA called a “defeat device,” masks the true emissions only during testing and therefore when the cars are on the road they emit as much as 40 times the level of pollutants allowed under clean air rules meant to ensure public health is protected, Giles said.
The EPA accused VW of using software in four-cylinder Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars from model years 2009 to 2015 made to circumvent emissions testing of certain air pollutants.
The cars are not facing recall at this time, the EPA said. VW did not indicate yesterday how it will address the issue.
The EPA can order VW to recall the vehicles. But that process could take up to a year, depending on the complexity of the issue, an EPA official said.
The diesel-powered vehicles involved from the 2009 to 2015 model years are the Jetta, Beetle, Golf and the Audi A3, as well as the Passat from 2014 and 2015.
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