VW chief “sorry” after EPA says firm skirted clean air law

The Justice Department is likely to open a criminal investigation, if it hasn’t already.

These allegations cover close to 482,000 passenger cars that are all diesels and sold in the U.S. since the start of 2009.

Volkswagen has stopped marketing its Audi and VW diesel models in the United States, a spokesperson has told AFP.

Mike Hawes, the group’s chief executive, said: “The EU [and Britain] operates a fundamentally different system to the U.S. – with all European tests performed in strict conditions as required by EU law and witnessed by a government-appointed independent approval agency”. The EPA investigation affects cars sold since 2008. The VW investigation involves model years 2009-2015. “There is no way to put an optimistic spin on this. We expected better from VW”, she said.

So far, models affected by the issue include the 2009-2015 Volkswagen Jetta, Beetle and Golf. Otherwise, he said, there would be no reason to have a setting that turns on the controls for tests and turns them off for regular driving. The magazine said it would then assess whether the cars’ fuel economy worsened.

“This is nearly unbelievable”, said Daryl Allen, a semi-retired engineering graduate of the Masschusetts Institute of Technology, expressing the disbelief with which many VW fans greeted the news. She isn’t sure what to do now.

A man looks at a new Audi A3 vehicle at a Volkswagen auto dealership in Shanghai, March 20, 2013.

German competitors BMW AG and Daimler AG said on Monday they aren’t aware of a similar US probe into their cars. “I’m a person who likes to be environmentally friendly”, she added.

“We do not and will not tolerate violations of any kind of our internal rules or of the law, Winterkorn insisted as the company announced that it was suspending sales of all vehicles equipped with the four-cylinder TDI – turbo direct injection – engine. This matter has first priority for me”, he says. However, it remains to be see if the government will enforce a penalty of such a high magnitude. If each vehicle involved is found to be in noncompliance, the penalty could be $18 billion, an EPA official confirmed on the teleconference. “That means on normal neighborhood driving you are in 6th gear and can make milkshakes most of the way”, Mike said.

It’s important to note that these vehicles run software with a so-called “defeat device” that kicks in when the on-board computer senses that it is being tested for emissions. At all other times, the cars would emit 40 times the pollution permitted by the Clear Air Act, the Times reported. Diesel-powered cars are a small part of overall USA vehicle and light-truck sales.

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Volkswagen’s CEO apologized for customers’ “broken trust” on Sunday after the company was accused last week of defrauding environmental regulators. Both agencies issued notices of non-compliance to VW Friday, a step necessary before ordering a recall.