Volkswagen to refit vehicles in wake of diesel emissions scandal

The world’s biggest carmaker also said that Volkswagen and the other brands of the group, including Audi and Skoda, will submit their technical solutions, as well as their planned measures to the relevant authorities before the end of October.

The company said a “service procedure” would be required to fix 5 million vehicles out of the 11 million total vehicles involved in the cheating.

Norway’s economic and environmental crimes unit Okokrim launched an investigation last week to determine whether Volkswagen had also used defeat device software for cheating on emissions tests in its diesel vehicles in the Nordic country.

The software, known as a “defeat device”, ensured that vehicles met emissions standards in laboratory and test environments, but not in normal driving circumstances.

“The government expects VW to set out quickly the next steps it will take to correct the problem and support owners of these vehicles already purchased in the United Kingdom”.

In a move that hardly surprised anyone, VW’s new boss Matthias Muller announced a plan to recall up to 11 million cars that are now affected by the emissions scandal. The law firm says consumers paid a premium for what they thought were “clean” diesel cars. Volkswagen has yet to release a comprehensive breakdown of all vehicles fitted with pollution test-cheating software. The company is working on a thorough refit plan to adjust affected diesel cars to expected emissions requirements.

VW has not confirmed what the modification will involve for the 1,189,906 vehicles with EA 189 engines.

The German car-maker said it would inform customers how to get their vehicles “corrected in the near future”. According to Green vehicle Reports, Volkswagen’s cars emitted up to 35 times the allowed USA levels of nitrous oxides, chemicals that contribute to smog and pollute our environment.

Motoring research charity the RAC Foundation said drivers are concerned about what effect the software has had on their cars, and what impact the recall will have on performance.