United States to sue VW for ‘billions’

The Justice Department lawsuit, filed on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency, accuses Volkswagen of violating the U.S. Clean Air Act, including tampering with the emissions control system and failing to report violations.

“The United States will pursue all appropriate remedies against Volkswagen to redress the violations of our nation’s clean air laws alleged in the complaint”, he said.

The senior Justice Department official said that they are “alleging that they knew what they were doing, they intentionally violated the law and that the consequences were significant to health”.

After the regulator uncovered the scandal in September, VW admitted installing the software, which was created to trick regulators into believing its cars were less polluting than they really were by producing low emissions only when undergoing official tests, in more than 11m vehicles across the world.

Volkswagen reportedly installed software that’s able to detect if the vehicle is being tested on a flatbed or running on the road.

The company first acknowledged in September that the cheating software was included in its diesel cars and SUVs sold since the 2009 model year, as well as some recent diesel models sold by the VW-owned Audi and Porsche brands.

Additionally, the federal government has also accused Volkswagen of selling, importing, and generally “introducing to commerce” vehicles with designs that vastly differ from those put forward to both the EPA and the California Air Resources Board, which helps monitor clean air protocols within the state.

“With today’s filing, we take an important step to protect public health by seeking to hold Volkswagen accountable for any unlawful air pollution, setting us on a path to resolution”, said Cynthia Giles, the assistant administrator for the EPA.

Monday’s suit seeks injunctive relief and the assessment of civil penalties.

In response, Volkswagen issued a statement saying: “Volkswagen will continue to work cooperatively with the EPA on developing remedies to bring the TDI vehicles into full compliance with regulations as soon as possible”.

The company said that it is working with American Attorney Kenneth Feinberg to create “an independent, fair and swift process for resolving private consumer claims relating to these issues”.

As for the Volkswagen, the company ensured that they will continue to cooperate with the government agencies to solve the matters.