German police authorities raided Volkswagen’s headquarters on Thursday, confiscating files and hard disks in their investigation into a massive pollution cheating scandal, reports AFP. They said the aim of yesterday’s searches was to “secure documents and data storage devices” that could identify those involved in the alleged manipulation and explain how it was carried out.
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During the testimony, Horn said the installation of emission-cheating software in Volkswagen’s EA 189 diesel engines was a decision made by a small group of engineers and not the firm’s top officials.
The company has previously said that, while the software was installed in around 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide, it was not active in the majority of them. Credit Suisse has estimated it could hit $87 billion in a worst case – more than the cost of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster.
Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn disclosed the decision in written testimony he delivered at a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce committee.
– CNN’s Chris Liakos contributed to this article.
VW’s American boss went before Congress after information was released that a half a million Volkswagen diesel vehicles emit 40 times the legal level of pollutants.
“This was something individuals did”, said Volkswagen Group of America CEO Michael Horn, quoted by the Los Angeles Times. But he did not give a timeline for repairs to bring the roughly 482,000 VW models with 2.0-liter diesel engines sold since 2008 with the illegal software into compliance with USA regulations.
The USA is continuing its investigations into how Volkswagen has managed to cheat in emissions tests since 2008. But the company has stopped short of saying whether the software was switched on in vehicles outside the United States. The same cars had met emissions standards when tested in the lab.
Responding to a proposal by Jan Schakowsky, a Democratic lawmaker from Illinois, that Volkswagen buy back the affected automobiles at the original purchase price, Horn said the cars remain safe to drive and that the plan is to fix them.
Horn’s statements did not make it clear what sort of fix the company was proposing for the VW vehicles already on the road that now can not pass emissions tests.
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Horn told the House panel that he only learned about the rigged emissions software within the last several weeks and apologized for the use of the defeat device.
