China is the latest in a string of countries that have launched investigations into VW cars since the scandal first erupted in the United States last month.
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The devices are able to detect when cars are undergoing tests, and can switch the vehicle to a low emission mode in order to achieve more favourable results.
Cheating software was found in about 650 Singapore-registered cars, according to data from Volkswagen’sSingapore office.
While VW has offered its “sincerest apologies” to China, it will be intriguing to see if the automaker has to continue making announcements for recalls leading up to or in the midst of massive repairs and updates being done on 11 million of its affected vehicles, already.
On September 18, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Notice of Violation (NOA) of the Clean Air Act to Volkswagen (Volkswagen AG, Audi AG, and Volkswagen Group of America) accusing the company of installing software that circumvented emission control tests in about half million diesel cars sold in the USA since 2008. The application, if approved, would’ve allowed the company to sell their new Diesel powered “Passat”. In regular driving, the vehicles emitted up to 40 times more pollution.
Just before you think Volkswagen’s problems couldn’t get any worse, it does.
And yet he joined lawmakers in expressing skepticism that a small few inside the company could have pulled off such a fraud, telling Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, at one point: “I agree it’s very hard to believe, and personally I struggle as well”.
Professor Richard Folkson, president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said: “We should not be rushing to scrap diesel cars when they clearly make a considerable contribution to reducing carbon emissions in the UK”.
The committee is due to ask Mr McLoughlin what steps the Government is taking to “restore public confidence” in vehicle testing.
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It said the suspension would be in place until Volkswagen had completed rectification of all affected vehicles.
