Washington DC - Volkswagen was dragged back into crisis on Monday night when the US Environmental Protection Agency revealed the carmaker had cheated on more emissions tests.
The EPA said Volkswagen had installed software designed to defeat emissions tests on Audi, VW and Porsche vehicles with three-litre six-cylinder diesel engines. The news widened a scandal that appeared to be dying down following revelations in September that Volkswagen installed “defeat devices” to disguise illegal emissions levels in about 11 million cars worldwide.
The latest violations cover about 10 000 cars in the United States - and potentially many more in Britain and Europe - including the 2014 Touareg and 2016 Audi A6 Quattro, A7 Quattro, A8 and Q5.
AWKWARD QUESTIONS
They also include the 2015 Porsche Cayenne, raising awkward questions for new VW chief executive Matthias Mueller, who took over from Martin Winterkorn soon after the scandal broke, as he was was previously the head of VW's Porsche division.
The scandal led to the car giant posting a third-quarter operating loss of €3.5 billion (R53 billion). After the figures emerged last week, Mr Mueller said: “We will do everything in our power to win back the trust we have lost.”
The latest affected vehicles were found to have a timer that altered engine parameters when a test programme was detected, modifying fuel injection timing, exhaust gas recirculation rate and fuel injection pressure and so cutting emissions.
The company has so far set aside €6.7 billion (R101.5 billion) to deal with the controversy, which does not account for any penalties, fines or compensation.
The Independent
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