Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn’s repeatedly insisted that the so-called “defeat devices” – created to give intentionally misleading results during testing – were not a corporate decision, but he faced harsh questioning over how the cheating could have gone on for at least five years before being detected by senior management.
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More than 11 million cars worldwide were outfitted with engine software meant to fool testers into thinking that certain diesel vehicles met pollution standards, also known as a defeat device.
President of Volkswagen Group of America Michael Horn is sworn in while testifying to the Energy & Commerce Committee of United States House of Representatives in the hearing on Volkswagen’s Emissions Cheating Allegations, on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., capital of the United States, October 8, 2015.
He said the first he knew of the problem was past year when a West Virginia University investigation showed emission irregularities.
“I was informed that EPA regulations included various penalties for non-compliance with the emissions standards and that the agencies can conduct engineering tests which could include “defeat device” testing or analysis”.
“I’m your Volkswagen driver who’s always trusted your company, and I’m very disappointed”, said Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., who owns a 2012 VW Passat diesel vehicle, among those with the illegal software code.
Volkswagen would deliver the software to the EPA and the California Air Resources Board, following which the two regulators will “begin evaluating the proposed software”, the EPA said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
“I did not think that something like this was possible at the Volkswagen Group”, Horn said.
Mr. Horn, who apologized for the deception at the beginning of the hearing, admitted, “I agree it’s very hard to believe”.
Mary Nichols, CARB’s chairman, has no sympathy for VW, but she told the Observer and other USA and German reporters in San Francisco today that the market reaction has been overly severe.
In the U.S., the company could be fined up to $18 billion by the Environmental Protection Agency alone.
The giant automaker has been thrown into its worst ever commercial crisis after it was caught cheating emissions tests for diesel vehicles in the U.S. The German government says the company was cheating in Europe too.
“To my understanding this was not a corporate decision, this was something individuals did”, Horn said, noting that he felt personally deceived.
This is less expensive for VW than buying back vehicles, but it’s still far costlier than a simple software upgrade.
The companies are facing potential consumer class action from law firm Maurice Blackburn which said on Friday that it had registered interested from more than 2,500 potential litigants.
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The source also noted that while VW is trying to avoid job cuts in light of these new company costs, there was no guarantee made to employees in an address at the primary company facility in Wolfsburg, Germany, by Volkswagen Chief Executive Matthias Müller.
