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The German automaker admitted last week that it used special software to fool USA emissions tests for its diesel vehicles.

The software in the cars’ engine-control computers checked the speed, steering wheel position, air pressure and other factors to determine when dynamometer tests were under way.

The EPA sent letters to automakers on Friday to warn them that it will take new steps to prevent emissions test cheating.

Last Friday, the EPA issued a citation to Volkswagen for equipping almost 500,000 diesel-powered cars sold since 2009 with software that can detect when the vehicle is undergoing federal testing for smog-forming emissions.

Switzerland has banned the sale of Volkswagen cars caught up in the emissions scandal.

As the scandal unfolded, it was revealed that roughly 11 million vehicles globally were emitting toxic nitrogen oxides at a rate up to 40 times beyond American regulations.

“We have been informed that also in Europe, vehicles with 1.6 and 2.0 litre diesel engines are affected by the manipulations that are being talked about”.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Friday that it would introduce major changes to its diesel tests to avoid a repeat of Volkswagen’s cheating by installing a software that allows the vehicle to pass lab tests but spews emissions when driven.

Regulators and prosecutors in several countries are investigating the fake emissions tests.

The Environmental Protection Agency said 482,000 of the German car-maker’s 2009-15 models in the U.S. were fitted with the defeat device to switch engines to a cleaner mode when they are undergoing official emissions testing.

In denying wrongdoing, BMW said two ICCT studies confirmed the BMW X5 and 13 other company vehicles tested, comply with the legal requirements concerning NOx emissions.

It doesn’t apply to cars now in production with “euro 6” engines, which aren’t affected by the emissions scandal.

Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it would begin on-road emissions testing of new and used vehicles.

If the EPA had not been there to catch VW lying, who would have?

Volkswagen’s board on Friday named Matthias Mueller, the head of the group’s Porsche unit, to be the new CEO and to lead the world’s top-selling automaker past a growing emissions-rigging scandal.