The deactivation of emissions controls during normal driving can improve a diesel-fueled car’s performance, experts say.
Advertisement
The US Environmental Protection Agency, which revealed the existence of the so-called defeat device to the public last month, has requested that the car-maker provide details of how it intends to fix the engines next week.
The Volkswagen cars in question meet emissions standards tests in a laboratory or testing station, but in normal operation, they emit nitrogen oxides at up to 40 times the standard, according to the EPA.
America CEO Michael Horn apologized Thursday at a hearing on Capitol Hill and said the automaker is “determined to make things right” after years of deception on an air pollution device.
Lawmakers are investigating after Volkswagen admitted it installed on-board computer software created to cheat on government emissions tests in almost 500,000 of its four-cylinder “clean diesel” cars, starting with the 2009 model year.
However, he said the decision to use the devices was not one made by the company’s board, but by individuals.
There has already been a purge of top jobs at VW, but more heads may yet roll.
“I sincerely apologise over betraying customers’ trust”, Volkswagen Korea President Thomas Kuehl said in a newspaper advertisement in South Korea.
While Horn has not been implicated in the scandal, the company has said its internal investigation is ongoing.
Play video “Emissions Scandal: Who’s Affected?”
Mr Horn said he was told about problems with VW’s diesel cars meeting USA emissions tests after the publication of a study by West Virginia University.
Absent from his prepared testimony is any indication about the timeline for repairs to bring the roughly 482,000 VW models with 2.0-liter diesel engines sold since 2008 with the illegal software into compliance with US regulations.
Horn testified that he learned of a “possible emissions non-compliance” in spring 2014, but was not aware a defeat device was used until early September. Horn’s best estimate was that it would take more than a year to develop and install fixes for all the affected vehicles. “We will find remedies for our customers, and we will work to ensure that this will never happen again”.
Advertisement
Under tough questioning from the House Energy Committee’s subcommittee on oversight and investigations, Horn distanced himself from the scandal that has enveloped the world’s largest carmaker.
