Until now, the emissions-cheating scandal had centered on so-called defeat devices, sophisticated software fitted into diesel engines to skew the results of tests for nitrogen oxide emissions.
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Volkswagen has so far written off €6.5 billion ($7.05 billion) for the 11 million vehicles affected by the NOx emissions issue. Previously the four-cylinder engines were found to contain the defect devices.
The Commission has enforcement powers to ensure that manufacturers respect their obligations in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, including the possibility of imposing fines.
As the crisis deepened, VW said it had told U.S. and Canadian dealers to stop selling recent models equipped with its 3.0 V6 TDI diesel engine, while Moody’s Investors Servcice downgraded the firm’s credit rating.
VOLKSWAGEN said on Tuesday it found data “inconsistencies” on carbon dioxide emissions for 800,000 more cars, the latest sign of trouble for Europe’s biggest automaker, already reeling from an emissions scandal.
A second act in Volkswagen’s massive emissions scandaljust began.
Regulators are saying that the company made use of a defeat device for tricking regulators to believe the cars were compliant when the vehicles were emitting harmful pollutants as much as 9 times what was acceptable.
Such AECDs are permitted to protect against damage to the engine or emission system, but must be disclosed before testing so the EPA can better understand how all functions of the emission-control software work. Most are diesel-engined – but not all.
‘From the very start, I have pushed hard for the relentless and comprehensive clarification of events, ‘ said VW boss Matthias Müller. “We all have an interest that everything at VW is turned over and reviewed”, Mr Dobrindt said, adding that the government wanted to force VW to pay the extra vehicle taxes that would be incurred by the higher Carbon dioxide emission levels. This new issue could add another 2 billion to the company’s growing tab to make amends for the scandals.
Bipartisan leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee had reportedly sought additional documents in the wake of the new EPA findings from Michael Horn, President and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America and had set the date November 16 as the deadline.
The investigation was undertaken by the company after the revelations that many of its vehicles had software that allowed them to deceive US nitrogen oxide tests.
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They included Polo, Golf, Passat, Audi A1 and A3 as well as Skoda Octavia and Seat Leone and Ibiza, according to the company.
