California widens Volkswagen probe, asks for plan in 45 days

Volkswagen says that its goal is that these changes will not affect either engine performance or fuel efficiency.

To encourage customers to return their cars, the ministry said it would distribute stickers to be attached to vehicles that have completed the recall procedure to remind those who have yet to bring their cars in.

VW is facing an emissions scandal on three fronts: the cheating software installed in about 11 million smaller diesel vehicles worldwide; irregular carbon-dioxide ratings on about 800,000 vehicles; and the probe into 85,000 larger diesel engines in the U.S.

“But it is Korea’s biggest fine ever of an automaker for a single issue, and could dent the market share of imported automobiles”.

Announcing the results of the tests, the Environment Ministry also said it was fining the company 14.1 billion won (USD 12.3 million). These cars include the 2009-2014 Volkswagen Jetta TDI and Jetta SportWagen TDI, 2010-2013 Golf TDI, 2012-2014 Beetle TDI, and the 2009-2013 Audi A3 TDI.

The ministry said it will continue to run additional tests on models equipped with the EA288 engine.

They then switch off the controls when the vehicle is on the road, allowing it to spew out harmful levels of emissions.

It is still testing the current generation of four-cylinder turbo-diesel Volkswagen Group engines, codenamed EA 288, and refused to confirm whether or not the engines were clean and legally compliant, as Volkswagen insists.

The company has 45 business days to submit its plan to begin the process of recalling and repairing the illegal emissions software, said CARB, part of the California Environmental Protection Agency.

The country’s environment ministry said based on its own findings, Volkswagen deliberately fitted its so-called “defeat device” in older diesel engines to produce false emissions readings. “It is too early to give exact schedules, but it could be early next year”.

Volkswagen has been given until December 17 to decide whether it will pay any compensation. However, in this case, Volkswagen has “revealed” their fix for the dieselgate scandal in Europe.