The vehicles contain engines which may be fitted with software that was used to con emissions testers in the US.
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The Wolfsburg-based company insisted its vehicles – which have EA 189 engines fitted from around 2009 to this year – are “technically safe and roadworthy”.
Transport Minister Dan Tok says 1,01,000 of those were made by the local VW brand Skoda Auto, 38,000 by Volkswagen, 7,000 by Audi and 1,800 by Seat.
Volkswagen did not say how the planned refit would make cars with the “cheat” software comply with regulations, or how this might affect vehicles’ mileage or efficiency, which are important considerations for customers.
This resulted in vehicles meet emissions standards in the laboratory or testing station, but during normal operation, emit nitrogen oxides at up to 40 times the standard.
But motoring research charity, the RAC Foundation, said drivers are concerned about what effect the software has had on their cars, and what impact the recall will have on performance.
Refitting 11 million cars would be among the biggest recalls in history by a single automaker.
“If the defeat technology was installed but not used what is the point of the work?”
“There are many unanswered questions and we will get the facts and the answers that the American people deserve”.
“We all want clean air to breathe, but motorists will understandably be anxious about the MPG (miles per gallon) implications of these so-called corrections on the cars many will have bought on the strength of their fuel economy”.
He added: ” It would be wrong to penalise all diesels.
“It seems Volkswagen had a dirty little secret, and it is not just consumers who are feeling betrayed”, said a joint statement by the committee’s chairman Fred Upton and the committee’s oversight and investigations panel chairman Tim Murphy.
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In a speech to VW managers Monday evening, newly appointed CEO Mueller said that the offending software was activated only in part of the cars fitted with the engine, so “we expect that the number of vehicles actually affected will be smaller”, according to extracts released by the company.
