Volkswagen Group of America CEO Michael Horn, testifying before a Congressional committee today, said it may take one or two years at a minimum to fix the almost 500,000 diesel vehicles at the center of an emission-rigging scandal.
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However, while numerous affected consumers have voiced concerned that changes made to the cars would affect their fuel efficiency or power, Horn assured the committee that the updated cars will deliver the same miles per gallon that they were originally advertised with, and that any power reduction would only result in a loss of 1 or 2 miles of top speed. Earlier in the hearing, Horn said the revelations “do not reflect the company that I know and to which I have dedicated 25 years of my life”.
It was not until September 3, 2015, that Volkswagen told US regulators it had installed so-called “defeat devices” in a few diesel engines to mask their true level of toxic emissions.
Horn said the scandal over those detected defeat devices was “deeply troubling”, promising VW would fully cooperate with authorities to ensure “this will never happen again”.
“We have broken the trust of our customers, dealerships, employees as well as the public and the regulators”. “To my understanding, this was not a corporate decision”. He said Volkswagen is determined to make things right.
The auxiliary emissions control device would be in addition to the engine software exposed last month that switched on emissions controls during testing conditions but turned them off during real-world driving.
German prosecutors raided the company’s German headquarters on Thursday to secure documents and data storage devices.
Horn said he learnt in early 2014 of “a possible emissions non-compliance”, after researchers at the University of West Virginia found that VW cars it tested were releasing up to 40 times as much nitrogen oxide as was legally permissible.
The software reportedly was able to detect when a diesel vehicle was undergoing emissions testing, automatically switching to a more environmentally friendly mode in order to deceive testers.
“It was a couple of software engineers that put this in for whatever reasons”.
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In the testimony, in which Horn offers “a honest apology for Volkswagen’s use of a program that served to defeat” emissions tests, the executive said, “We have withdrawn the application for certification of our model year 2016 vehicles”.
