When the software, called a “defeat device”, determines that the cars are back on real roads, the controls are turned off. The EPA says about 500,000 USA cars including the Jetta, Golf, Beetle, Passat and Audi A3 have the cheating software, and VW says a total of 11 million cars have it worldwide.
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Last week, the EPA found that Volkswagen had falsified pollution tests on 482,000 VW and Audi diesel cars in the U.S.
The new tests will be done in addition to the current regime of lab tests to calculate emissions and fuel economy. Earlier this year the agency updated gas mileage tests after some automakers were caught with inflated window sticker estimates.
The row erupted after it emerged that some VW cars being sold in the USA had devices in diesel engines that could detect when they were being tested, changing the engine performance to improve results.
Grundler points to 23 portable emissions-measurement devices the EPA uses presently to test heavy-duty diesel trucks, the same technology researchers at West Virginia University used to uncover the VW deception.
The agency will send a letter to all manufacturers to notify them that it’s stepping up its emissions policing.
The VW cheating scandal was initially discovered by outside contractors using portable monitors that measure emissions while a auto is on the highway.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: “The Vehicle Certification Agency, the United Kingdom regulator, is working with vehicle manufacturers to ensure that this issue is not industry wide”.
Volkswagen’s board appointed the head of its Porsche unit as CEO, handing longtime company insider Matthias Mueller the task of trying to lead the world’s top-selling automaker past the still-growing emissions scandal.
The way the news has broken in this scandal shows a company where truth-telling seems to happen only when there is no other alternative. Even if they don’t, VW is responsible for a new raft of regulatory headaches for all companies that want to sell cars in the U.S. The unlawful behaviour of engineers and technicians involved in engine development shocked Volkswagen just as much as it shocked the public. “Clean” diesel cars account for about 35 percent of sales at his East Providence dealership, and a few days ago it was announced that what he was selling was actually a lie.
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Neither the EPA nor Volkswagen have said how long it will take to fix the almost half-million cars in the USA with defeat devices.
