“We checked six cars of the five Volkswagen diesel models that were sold in Korea”, Hong Dong-gon, a spokesman for the Ministry of Environment, said at a press briefing held in Sejong City.
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California regulators ordered Volkswagen Wednesday to recall some diesel vehicles equipped with emissions-cheating software in coming months as the German company’s pollution scandal widens.
The software defeat device that the Volkswagen Group (which includes VW, Porsche, Audi, and others) used to cheat regulations was implemented on several of the company’s diesel vehicles globally.
But as the new components and software are yet to undergo official testing for either engine output or fuel consumption, Volkswagen said these figures are now unknown.
Audi, which is based in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, has said it failed to notify authorities in the United States of three so-called auxiliary emissions control devices (AECD) in luxury models, one of which is classified there as a banned “defeat device”.
In U.S. alone, Volkswagen has plans to recall around 75,000 diesel vehicles.
The ministry also announced that it would introduce an outdoor emissions test for all vehicles starting next year as part of its efforts to prevent emissions rigging.
Volkswagen should submit its detailed recall plans including how to improve emissions of the cars in question to the ministry by January 6.
The South Korean ministry found that emissions from Tiguan diesel vehicles featuring EA189 engines breached the country’s emission standards when the auto was not under the usual test conditions.
Early in November, German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt said all current models sold under the VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat brands – with both diesel and gasoline engines – would be tested for carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions.
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After numerous modification and technical changes have been made and approved by regulators Volkswagen said they would “contact all customers and endeavour to consider individual customer needs”. Mr. Stadler’s background is in finance and his lack of engineering expertise has always been seen inside Volkswagen as an obstacle to him ever becoming CEO of the Volkswagen group.
