California regulators Tuesday rejected Volkswagen’s proposal for recalling tens of thousands of defective diesel vehicles that were equipped with software aimed at cheating on federal and state’s air-pollution standards.
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Mueller is now taking every media opportunity to apologise for his company’s failings in the USA, following his first broadcast exchange on Monday where he denied the company had lied in evading emissions. CARB wants to be able to assess whether the fixes work in individual cars and as a whole, and so far, Volkswagen hasn’t provided enough detail to ensure that.
In this September 28, 2015, file photo, clamps hold probes in the tailpipes of a 2010 Volkswagen Jetta TDI on the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C. California air quality regulators, on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, rejected Volkswagen’s recall plan to fix vehicles including the Beetle and Jetta that were programmed to trick government emissions tests.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency was due to issue its own decision Thursday on the recall proposal. “We’re not there yet”. Mueller said the source of the dispute is variations between German and USA laws governing corporate documents.
“Frankly spoken, it was a technical problem….”
For its part, Volkswagen appeared to take the setback in stride.
A union source close to VW’s supervisory board said he was “astonished” by Mueller’s remarks. “Those comments are anything but helpful and should have never been made”, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“It is important for him to make clear: Volkswagen’s apology for the breach of trust with the American people is meant sincerely and honestly”, the company said.
In a statement, California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) said it has rejected proposals put forward by VW to rectify cars with its 2.0-litre diesel engine, saying the proposals lack detail and contain gaps in information.
He also had a dig at the EPA for the substantial penalties it faces when responding to an alleged statement made by Tesla founder Elon Musk that auto makers should invest all their resources in electric vehicles rather than conventional combustion engine technologies.
That’s in stark contrast to the automaker’s earlier admissions that it had, in fact, cheated.
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He wouldn’t talk about what solutions the company will propose, but analysts say they will nearly certainly be expensive and involve major modifications to the exhaust systems or the addition of a chemical treatment system to turn nitrogen oxide into harmless nitrogen and oxygen.
