The subcommittee members warned Horn they were not going to go easy on him from the outset.
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Mr Horn, who insisted the vehicles are safe to drive, said compliance processes and standards within VW will be examined so this can not happen again.
The crisis involves three different VW engines. He says the agency has changed testing procedures so they are unpredictable to automakers.
Volkswagen faced its first Congressional hearing over the diesel emissions scandal today.
Several members of the committee said the violations reflect a broader problem with the auto industry in the wake of scandals at Toyota, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler and supplier Takata.
In the U.S., the company could be fined up to $18 billion by the Environmental Protection Agency alone.
When tested in a lab or garage, the vehicles give nitrogen oxide emissions readings that comply with the law.
Perhaps the most notable revelation, though, was Horn’s confidence that the so-called defeat device was the work of a few “rogue” German engineers, not a widespread corporate movement.
Volkswagen is looking at compensating owners of diesel-powered cars that have devices set up to cheat on US emissions tests.
Second generation engines number around 90,000 in the U.S. and will have fixes ready by around the middle of 2016. He didn’t have an exact timeline on when the repairs might take place, but said it could take multiple years to develop the fix, get government approval and distribute parts to the company’s US dealers.
But after intense questioning, The Guardian reported that his response was: “I agree it’s very hard to believe …”
The US VW chief described the defeat device as a line of software code installed in the vehicles that tricks EPA emissions tests. But the fixes might affect performance, including a one-or-two mile-per-hour drop in top speed.
Volkswagen hasn’t added any factory cash rebates this month, according to Automotive News, but Horn said dealerships are getting “certain cash incentive[s] that they can manage to bring loyal customers in, whether it’s a TDI customer or a gas customer”.
In a statement on Thursday, Volkswagen said it was still investigating whether or to what extent the software interfered illegally with vehicles.
“These events are deeply troubling”, Horn said in apologizing during opening remarks.
He was giving evidence before the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce committee. Representative Michael Burgess, a Texas Republican, questioned the size of EPA’s annual budget, noting that the cheating was uncovered by a West Virginia University study that had a budget of less than $70,000. Who was responsible for these decisions? Would the fixes hurt the VW diesels’ performance?
Close to 1.2 million vehicles are affected in the UK.
As Horn began his testimony, lawmakers from both parties fondly recalled their first VWs and then laced into the company for betraying the public’s trust.
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“It seems Volkswagen had a dirty little secret, and it’s not just consumers who are feeling betrayed”.
