An estimated 91,000 Australian auto owners were among those whose vehicles were fitted with rigging devices created to mask the level of emissions.
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And – at least in Europe – the costs may not be as much as some analysts have feared.
The EPA and CARB “would need to fully evaluate and test any (VW or Audi) remedy for effectiveness before it could move forward”, the EPA said. Two of those engines were sold in the USA, both turbocharged diesels: a 2.0 liter four-cylinder, and a 3.0 liter six-cylinder.
The result was based on more than a month-long investigation of six vehicle models sold here by Volkswagen and its luxury brand Audi following the September revelation in the USA on its cheating through the so-called defeat device.
Edmunds says: Affected VW and Audi owners still have no concrete solution or timing on a fix for these vehicles. He didn’t comment on what affect the fixes may have on the vehicles’ acceleration and fuel economy.
Chief Executive Matthias Mueller told managers on Monday that the technical steps needed to fix the vehicles are “technically and financially manageable”. The United States places stricter limits on nitrogen oxide, which is linked to lung ailments. The updated software will be installed as soon as it is approved by the authorities.
“One of them is regarded as a defeat device according to applicable U.S. law”, the company noted.
The 3.0 liter engines may be a simpler fixIt could be a different story with he 3.0 liter V6 TDI engines.
The three managers have been previously identified as Wolfgang Hatz, who was in charge of research and development at Volkswagen’s Porsche division as well as head of engines and transmissions development for the Volkswagen Group; Ulrich Hackenberg, head of development for all Volkswagen Group brands; and Heinz-Jakob Neusser, head of development for the Volkswagen brand. Volkswagen uses the engine in the Touareg and Porsche has used it in the Cayenne since model year 2013.
The engines in question were built by Audi and distributed to Porsche and Volkswagen as well, said David Clegern, a California Air Resources Board spokesman.
Audi said in its statement on the larger V-6 diesels that three separate AECD software routines had not been properly disclosed to the EPA.
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Updating the software on the 2.0-liter engine should take hardly any time-Volkswagen is estimating a half hour.
