Volkswagen, Audi cheated in U.S Pollution Tests, used “defeat devices”

Kuala Lumpur: Well, it turns out that the U.S.A's increasing eco-conscious buyers of the sporty German cars have been inadvertently releasing smog in air, as their favourite German company duped the so-called “clean diesel” in the U.S. emissions tests.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ordered a recall of roughly 482,000 such diesel since 2009 produced by the world’s largest automaker. The scandal could cost the company billions of dollars in fines and lawsuit judgements and threatens to stunt the development of all diesel vehicles.

The chief executive of Volkswagen came forward to save company's image and apologised for the same. The CEO ordered an external investigation into findings that the carmaker cheated on US emissions tests to make its vehicles appear less polluting.

Martin Winterkorn, chief executive of the German carmaker on Sunday reported that the board of management took the findings “very seriously”.

He added: “I personally am deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public. We will co-operate fully with the responsible agencies, with transparency and urgency, to clearly, openly, and completely establish all of the facts of this case.”

It was discovered that 482,000 Volkswagen and Audi cars in the country were installed with illegal “defeat devices” in its diesel-powered cars to help it comply with emissions tests, Automotive News reports.

These vehicles include the model year 2009-2015 of Volkswagen Beetle, Golf, Jetta, Passat as well as Audi A3 units. According to reports, all of these vehicles were equipped with a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel engine. It is said that for its vehicle the brand could be penalised by as much as $37,500 per vehicle. When totalled it estimates around a whopping $18 billion. That's a huge fine on the company!

It is said that the illegal software used by the company is capable of detecting when the car is being put through emissions tests when the full emissions controls are activated. Although, in actual conditions the car is said to emit “up to 40 times” the permitted levels of nitrous oxides. These pollutants are very harmful to the environment as well as can cause severe illnesses such as asthma attacks and other respiratory diseases.

The issue was first reported by the Kodak's group, who noticed discrepancies between the figures quoted by Volkswagen during emissions testing and recorded real-world numbers. The team did a series of research on the diesel engines and then highlighted his serious issue to the EPA.

“These violations are very serious, not only because illegal defeat devices results in excess emissions many times the allowable standard, but also because Volkswagen was concealing the facts from EPA, the state of California and consumers,” said the EPA’s assistant administrator, Cynthia Giles.