The device could recognize whether a vehicle was being operated in a test laboratory or on the road and emit different levels of pollutants accordingly. The disclosure came in testimony that VW of America President Michael Horn was to give today before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in Washington.
Advertisement
Volkswagen’s new chief executive, Matthias Mueller, said in an interview published Wednesday in the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper that only a few employees were involved in the deception. Horn claims there is much he doesn’t know about the issue, but he said that Volkswagen needs to “bloody learn” from this mistake.
The former Porsche chief, who took over the driver’s seat at VW at the height of the crisis, said he did not believe top management could have been aware of the scandal, which threatens to cost the company billions in vehicle overhauls and fines.
Eleven million vehicles worldwide are said to have been equipped with such software which means they do not respect anti-pollution standards.
In addition, a self-serve process for customers to check if their vehicle is affected will be set up.
Admitting that the company had “broken the trust of our customers, dealerships, and employees, as well as the public and regulators”, Horn said: “We at Volkswagen take full responsibility for our actions and we are working with all relevant authorities in a cooperative way”.
In Denmark, an estimated 91,000 vehicles are expected to be hit by the scandal, while dealers in Finland say at least 26,000 cars are affected but that could almost double to 50,000. The fix, he said, would not hurt fuel mileage, but it could hinder the cars’ performance, knocking one or two miles-per-hour off the top speed.
Horn’s remarks provided no further details and offered House investigators little new information about what led to the scandal and how Volkswagen intends to resolve it, as the company conducts its own external investigation. I was told that there was a possible emissions non-compliance that could be remedied.
“We will fully support the prosecutor’s office with its investigation into the facts of the case and into the people responsible to swiftly and completely get to the bottom of the matter”, Volkswagen said in an e-mailed statement.
“We are determined to make things right”, Horn added.
EPA officials will defend their testing, as well as the importance of the Clean Air Act that VW is charged with violating.
Advertisement
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. German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported Thursday that VW apparently used it for that goal in Europe as well as the U.S. They did so by installing software which automatically switched the engine into a cleaner mode when being tested.
