Volkswagen’s diesel fix rejected by Californian Air Resources

The California Air Resources Board rejected VW’s plan to fix 2.0 litre diesel cars equipped with software that allows them to emit up to 40 times legally allowable pollution.

CARB’s decision only applies to the fix offered for 2-litre engines, noting that the auto-maker has until February 2 to present its mitigation plan for 3-litre engines.

Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller said last weekend he believed a new catalytic converter could be fitted to most affected vehicles in a way that would satisfy regulators, but apparently this wasn’t enough.

Regulators in California who have been empowered to conduct auto pollution emission tests have rejected a proposal from Volkswagen to fix vehicles that were involved in the company’s efforts to circumvent federal air quality standards.

In the same statement from KBB, the company’s senior analyst Karl Brauer speculates that the industry may hear as soon as tomorrow whether or not the next iteration of VW’s plan submissions has been accepted by CARB. The agency doesn’t know how long it will take for VW to fix the vehicles, he added. The California Air Resources Board and Environmental Protection Agencyrejected the German automaker’s proposed solution for emissions excesses in its 2.0-liter engines Tuesday, saying the submitted recall plan contains gaps and lacks sufficient detail.

Though the EPA hasn’t formally issued its own denial of Volkswagen’s proposed fix plan, the fact that agency officials have said that they concur with CARB’s decision doesn’t bode well for the automaker.

EPA said in a statement it agreed with the California regulator’s assessment.

He went on to say that Volkswagen “didn’t lie” when first asked about the discrepancies between test and road emissions in its diesel cars. “We had not the right interpretation of the American law”, Matthias Mueller said to NPR reporter Sonari Glinton.

“Since then, Volkswagen has had constructive discussions with CARB, including last week when we discussed a framework to remediate the TDI emissions issue”, VW said in an emailed statement.

Separately, VW is working on a plan to fix larger 3.0-liter diesel engines used in some VW, Audi, and Porsche vehicles.

Volkswagen was forced to admit a year ago that about 600,000 vehicles nationwide were sold with illegal software created to trick government emissions tests. “It is my point of view, I tell you we are working together with the EPA and also with the CARB for three months, and from our point of view we did huge progress”.