“The allegations in complaints filed by certain states today are essentially not new and we have been addressing them in our discussions with USA federal and state authorities”, the company said.
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Schneiderman’s investigation found it “was clear” that current Volkswagen Chief Executive Matthias Mueller knew about the the emissions issues in July 2006, the attorney general told reporters Tuesday. Mueller, according to the suit, was aware of a 2006 decision to not equip Audi vehicles with equipment needed to meet US clean-air standards.
The suit also said that Volkswagen tried to maintain the coverup when regulators first raised questions, and only admitted to the wrongdoing when it was presented with facts that could not be disputed.
Three U.S. states plan to unveil new lawsuits against Volkswagen AG VOWG_p.DE on Tuesday tied to the automaker’s sale of diesel vehicles that had software allowing pollution emissions of up to 40 times legally allowable limits.
So Audi in 2004 programmed its diesels in Europe to turn off the noise reduction technology when software recognized that the cars were undergoing emissions tests, the complaint said.
VW tried to cover up the problem through sham recalls that the company knew wouldn’t meet the required standards and then only confessed to the defeat devices “when they knew the regulators had the goods on them”, according to Schneiderman’s statement.
For the first time, the NY complaint connects Volkswagen’s chief executive, Matthias Mueller, to the scandal.
VW acknowledged in September installing so-called defeat device in many of its most popular vehicles, including the Beetle and Porsche Cayenne, expressly to curb smog-producing nitrous oxide emissions.
“The allegations in complaints filed by certain states today are essentially not new, and we have been addressing them in our discussions with USA federal and state authorities”, the company said.
Late last month Volkswagen, which also owns the luxury automakers Audi and Porsche, settled civil charges over the use of the cheat devices on 2.0 liter engines with United States and Californian authorities in a $14.7 billion agreement that will see auto owners compensated.
In a statement, Volkswagen said it is already in talks with authorities regarding “a comprehensive national resolution of all remaining environmental issues arising from the diesel matter”. “It is regrettable that some states have chose to sue for environmental claims now, notwithstanding their prior support of this ongoing federal-state collaborative process”. A separate agreement is being negotiated for the 3.0-liter VW diesel used by the Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche brands. Engineers at Audi developed a way to eliminate the clattering sound that diesel engines tend to make after starting.
That from at least 2006, VW “intensively researched” whether it could say the defeat devices were legal – and that “its conclusion was that it could not”.
Volkswagen may never emerge from the lingering cloud of fumes created by its use of deceptive devices that made its TDI “clean diesels” appear to be operating within clean air limits when in fact they normally emitted up to 40 times as much pollution as USA law allows.
Winterkorn is one of the VW managers under investigation as part of probes in both Germany and the U.S. Despite the $14.7 billion settlement, a senior Justice Department official last month described the agency’s criminal probe as ongoing.
“Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche defrauded thousands of MA consumers, polluted our air, and damaged our environment and then, to make matters worse, plotted a massive cover-up to mislead environmental regulators”, Healey said in a statement.
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Although the U.S. Department of Justice will probably just slap our wrists, we’re deathly afraid of private actions brought by state Attorneys General and class actions by angry customers.
