California board rejects Volkswagen’s diesel fix plan

The California Air Resources Board has rejected Volkswagen’s proposed fix for diesel passenger vehicles outfitted with “defeat devices” that allow them to emit illegal levels of pollutants. “And we’re going to make it right”.

“Today’s announcement addresses the initial recall plans Volkswagen submitted…in December”, the statement read.

The company’s CEO Matthias Mueller, apologized to American consumers on Sunday ahead of the Detroit auto show for building cars that cheated on emissions tests.

CARB and the EPA have said the agencies will continue investigating and producing technical evaluations to bring the cars into compliance with emissions laws.

The rejection of Volkswagen’s recall plan is a setback, though may not preclude a final deal.

The scandal eventually spread around the world – affecting more than 11 million cars.

In related news, Volkswagen is also under pressure to submit a separate fix for a further 80,000 Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche 3.0-litre diesel engines, due on the 2nd of February.

Authorities in the state have said the German carmaker’s proposal failed to explain how it would track down affected cars or limit emissions in future.

In rejecting VW’s plans, the automaker finds itself under the gun to find a way to fix the cars, all while facing hundreds of lawsuits in a California courtroom.

“Since then, Volkswagen has had constructive discussions with CARB, including last week when we discussed a framework”, the statement said. Volkswagen set aside EUR6.7bn (US$7.3bn) in the third quarter to help pay for the crisis and has acknowledged this won’t be enough. The automaker is said to be considering the step for a portion of some 482,000 vehicles equipped with the 2.0-liter EA 189 engine that was revealed to contain emissions-cheating software back in September of a year ago. CARB put it another way – saying it is continuing its investigation into Volkswagen’s actions. The EPA is pursuing its own enforcement actions against the company.

But remarks made later to reporters in a scrum got Mueller into trouble, as VW’s credibility was questioned when he indicated the company simply misunderstood USA regulations in engineering its deceptive diesel-emissions system, a soundbite carried by broadcast news service NPR.