2 accused VW of putting the software on about 10,000 Volkswagen and Audi vehicles with 3-liter engines from the 2014 through 2016 model years. But on Thursday, the German automaker told the EPA and California Air Resources Board that the same software is on vehicles going back to the 2009 model year.
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Stertz said the software is legal in Europe, and it’s not the same as a device that enabled four-cylinder VW diesel engines to deliberately cheat on emissions tests.
The meeting between company engineers and technical experts at EPA and CARB was a technical discussion “to talk through the violations so that both sides understand the data and the systems and the software”, Ward said.
The Volkswagen Group has effectively admitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that not one diesel model it sold in the US since 2009 complies with emissions laws.
Volkswagen AG cut $1.1 billion from its 2016 investment plan Friday, as its emissions cheating scandal expanded to include tens of thousands more US vehicles. Days after the Nov 2. notice, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche issued a stop-sale order on those models stretching from used examples from the 2013 model year through the 2016 model year, but disputed the EPA’s claims at the time. Earlier this month, the EPA alleged that certain models using the automaker’s 3.0-liter turbodiesel V-6 engine also contained defeat device software.
But this year, with the diesel scandal still unresolved, VW, Porsche and Audi kept a low profile while archrival Mercedes-Benz feted guests at Wolfgang Puck’s Cut steakhouse in Beverly Hills and Hyundai threw a bash at the the Hotel Figueroa featuring Kool & the Gang and an open bar.
The software devices turn on pollution controls when the vehicle is undergoing testing, and off when it is back on the road, allowing it to spew out harmful levels of nitrogen oxide.
The diesel scandal that envelops the Volkswagen group just got larger with a few 75,000 more cars added to the already enormous list of affected vehicles.
For authorities to bring charges against Bosch, they would have to prove the supplier knew that their technology was being used by Volkswagen to evade emissions requirements.
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VW also said Mueller would temporarily take on responsibility for personnel matters until a replacement was found for Horst Neumann, who retires at the end of November.
