90,000 VWs have a second-generation diesel engine. The automaker will undertake this strategy as it believes that the software related to the violation of emission standards features in these vehicles as well.
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“Until a technical solution is made available, customers do not need to act however are encouraged to check their vehicle using the VIN check tool, or contact the company’s 24 hour 1800 50 AUDI (2834) Customer Information Line”, the company said. He said Volkswagen is determined to make things right.
“As CEO I accept responsibility for the irregularities that have been found in diesel engines and have therefore requested the supervisory board to agree on terminating my function”, Winterkorn said in a statement.
During his scripted opening remarks, Horn told the panel members that “in the spring of 2014 when the West Virginia University study was published, I was told that there was a possible emissions non-compliance that could be remedied”.
Horn said software changes alone will work for newer models, but 430,000 cars dating to 2009 will need mechanical fixes that are still being developed.
Volkswagen has come under fire from consumers and regulators since the company acknowledged the use of a “defeat device” to pass emissions tests.
Horn, a 25-year Volkswagen veteran, announced that Volkswagen has withdrawn its application to have 2016 vehicles approved by regulators.
Only when the EPA and California regulators refused to approve VW’s 2016 diesel models for sale did the company admit what it had done.
Volkswagen has said that the 6.5 billion euros (7.3 billion) it set aside in the third quarter over the affair was only the estimated sum to cover repairs of affected vehicles.
The auto group, which submitted its plans and timetable to bring vehicles to compliance to German authorities on Wednesday, is planning to begin recalling affected vehicles from January.
He also claimed that nobody at Volkswagen’s USA operations knew about the usage of the defeat devices in December 2014. It’s also evaluating how to compensate owners of the cars implicated in the scandal, with buybacks a consideration. An EPA probe is likely to stretch on for months and many local authorities have taken up the cause, with 34 lawsuits having been filed in the U.S.by September 27, according to National Public Radio. The devices – actually software code – switch on pollution controls when the cars are being tested, but turn off the controls when the software determines that the cars are back on real roads. “We wish we had learned it sooner”, he told lawmakers.
Grundler says the first priority is running light-duty vehicles with diesel engines on the market now through an additional battery of tests, without telling automakers exactly what the tests consist of. The same cars had met emissions standards when tested in the lab.
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“Bottom line”, Grundler said, “is that we are going to be unpredictable”.
