It wasn’t immediately clear when VW would refile its application, but Horn’s testimony said the company was working with regulators to get certification.
Advertisement
“To my understanding this was not a corporate decision, this was something individuals did”, Horn said, noting that he felt personally deceived. Barton, a Texas Republican, said that he and other conservatives have had questions about the emission standards that VW violated.
The Australian arm of embattled auto manufacturer Volkswagen has announced a voluntary recall of all its cars effected by alleged software tampering on diesel engines. “The software made those emit higher levels of nitrogen oxides when the vehicles were driven in actual road use than during laboratory testing”, he said.
Last month, Volkswagen appointed Matthias Mueller as its new chief executive officer to help the automaker recover from the scandal over the rigging of US vehicle emissions tests. An unknown number of these cars remain in quarantine at USA ports.
That is a total of 482,000 vehicles that will require a hardware fix and not just updated software in the U.S. Fuel economy on these vehicles is expected to be maintained though engine power might end up taking a hit along with top speed.
Volkswagen Group of America President and CEO Michael Horn.
“On behalf of our company, and my colleagues in Germany, I would like to offer a honest apology for Volkswagen’s use of a software program that serves to defeat the regular emissions testing regime”.
Under questioning from Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., Horn said VW isn’t considering offering owners loaner cars because the USA government says the diesels equipped with a so-called defeat device are safe to drive.
It will be the first appearance on Capitol Hill by Horn, a German and veteran VW manager who took over the reins of the brand’s American subsidiary a year ago. “These events are deeply troubling”, he said.
Multiple media sources are reporting that German prosecutors raided a number of Volkswagen offices on Thursday as a part of their investigation into cheating on the emissions tests of their diesel vehicles.
“However, at this point we are unable to provide further details of the investigation because the release of such information could jeopardize this onging enforcement investigation”, said Grundler. Will the fix affect vehicle performance? “We have broken the trust of our customers, dealerships, and employees, as well as the public and regulators”, he said.
It was unclear what the device found in a few VW models does.
It’s early and the line is growing.
Advertisement
In prepared testimony, CEO Michael Horn admitted to a congressional committee that he was informed of “possible emissions non-compliance” at that time and told that the situation could be remedied.
