Volkswagen America CEO Michael Horn adjusts his glasses as he testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, October 8, 2015, before the House Oversight and Investigations subcommittee hearing on Volkswagen’s emissions cheating allegations. “I think we have to get to the point that we put people first and not the pressure and corporate profits”. 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. “We have broken the trust of our customers, dealerships, and employees, as well as the public and regulators”.
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He said the United Kingdom has started its own testing programme which will seek “to get to the bottom” of what the situation is for VW Group cars in the UK.
Underlining the uphill task to winning back confidence, Congressman Peter Welch said: “VW is the Lance Armstrong of the auto industry” – a reference to the USA cyclist who had to be stripped of seven consecutive Tour de France titles after he was caught doping. Mueller said that a few of the cars could be fixed by software adjustment while others need mechanical alterations, according to the DailyMail.com.
“To my understanding, this was not a corporate decision, this is something individuals did”, said Horn.
USA environmental regulators say Volkswagen faces fines of up to $18 billion. Barton, a Texas Republican, said that he and other conservatives have had questions about the emission standards that VW violated.
The EPA and the California Air Resources Board uncovered “defeat device” software in the Volkswagen cars after independent analysis at West Virginia University raised questions about the cars’ emissions levels.
Volkswagen AG VLKAY intends to withdraw the applications for obtaining US emissions certificates for its model year 2016 vehicles, including Jettas, Golfs, Passats and Beetles equipped with diesel engines.
While the cheat code – which switched the EA189 diesel motors into their cleanest settings only when it was being tested in a laboratory – is not hard to remove, it’s buried deep inside the Bosch EDC 16 engine management software.
In the U.S., nearly half a million cars, mostly Volkswagen’s flagship Passat vehicles, will have to be recalled. It was only last month, however, when the company told regulators a number of its diesel vehicle models had been installed with “defeat device” software that causes 482,000 cars to cheat on us emissions standards tests. He said the company was also examining whether it needed to add equipment such as catalytic converters or urea tanks. He said Volkswagen is determined to make things right.
The two officials said they could not reveal new details about the EPA’s ongoing probe of Volkswagen in fear of jeopardizing the investigations.
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Mr McLoughlin, who was meeting of European transport ministers in Luxembourg, also urged the European Commission to introduce real-world driving emissions tests as soon as possible.
