The vehicles are equipped with software that allows them to emit up to 40 times legalll allowable pollution.
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The Air Resources Board said Volkswagen had failed to describe precisely how it would fix the vehicles.
CARB vows to continue working with the EPA on their current investigation in order to get the cars in compliance with emissions requirements as well as to determine a plan to mitigate past and future environmental damage that occurred as a result of the TDIs’ high emissions.
Volkswagen in December gave the California air board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a plan for recalling almost 500,000 diesel vehicles implanted with “defeat device” software.
Volkswagen’s efforts to smooth over its emissions-cheating scandal in the USA are off to a awful start.
“I think we will be more intelligent in a couple weeks”, Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn says, declining to confirm the accuracy of reports the automaker could repurchase up to 115,000 of the defective vehicles.
On the eve of his appearance at the North American International Auto Show on Sunday, state attorneys general alleged that Volkswagen was withholding key documents, including emails needed for them to effectively investigate the company’s alleged emissions fraud.
This past September, the auto maker owned up to the existence of the cheating device, and soon after VW was given 45 days to submit a proposal on how it will proceed with recalling and fixing the cars.
Plans rejected by CARB do not cover vehicles the 3.0-liter V-6 TDI powertrain. The EPA said Tuesday it agreed that VW’s plan can’t be approved.
To meet United States clean air standards, VW’s options include selective catalytic reduction, in which the automaker would inject a nitrogen-oxide-trapping chemical called urea into the exhaust pipe to reduce emissions.
CARB went a step further, blowing up Volkswagen’s plan as well as releasing a notification of 13 violations. “We made a default, we had a… not the right interpretation of the American law”. Sales in the second half of 2015 dropped by as much as 25% in some regions of the country, in large part because without EPA approval the company was forbidden to sell new and certain certified used diesel cars – which typically account for about 25% of overall sales.
Curiously, CARB won’t yet say what the plan they’re rejecting is.
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To be clear, CARB’s rejection was for a recall plan submitted by VWoA to fix its 2.0-liter diesel engines.
