In September, Volkswagen first admitted to installing the software in vehicles with its 2.0L and 3.0L diesel engines, including some Audi and Porsche models. Not only has the U.S. government filed a lawsuit over its emissions-cheating software: it’s also emerged that different software was written for 2.0 and 3.0 liter engines.
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Volkswagen’s earlier admissions eliminate nearly any possibility that the automaker could defend itself in court, Daniel Riesel of Sive, Paget & Riesel P.C, who defends companies accused of environmental crimes, said. Volkswagen has acknowledged that millions of its diesel cars worldwide relied on a ruse to skirt emissions controls. She said that the recall discussions will continue in parallel with the federal court action.
Giles added that the EPA has not yet reached an acceptable agreement with the German company over how to handle a recall.
In a statement, EPA said the agencies’ demands for injunctive relief and civil penalties won’t preclude the government from seeking other legal remedies in the future.
The defeat devices impair vehicle emission-control systems, causing vehicles to exceed the EPA’s standards.
“From my point of view, the CARB is not realistic”, he said of the air resources board.
The Justice Department said the lawsuit was the first stage in bringing Volkswagen to justice for failing to disclose that the vehicles were equipped with a device created to defeat emissions tests conducted in the United States.
Volkswagen is accused of selling almost 600,000 diesel vehicles that had illegal defeat devices installed.
VW already is threatened with penalties that could amount to billions of dollars. That resulted in greenhouse gas emissions at up to 40 times federal environmental standards.
The scandal resulted in the resignation of Volkswagen’s CEO, Martin Winterkorn, weeks after the EPA released its claims.
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The lawsuit is being filed in the Eastern District of MI and then transferred to Northern California, where class-action lawsuits against Volkswagen are pending. It could be an incentive to get Volkswagen to settle the case quickly, something that Kenneth Feinberg, the lawyer hired by the company to handle the USA inquiry, said he wanted to do last month.
