Volkswagen’s USA chief admits awareness of pollution breaching; police raids VW

Horn said it appeared the software was fitted because the cars couldn’t meet United States pollution rules.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, a Democrat, asked what authority the EPA has to leave the cars on the road when they’re emitting 10 to 40 times the pollution allowed by law.

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said VW’s actions are “a systemic failure” of a few company employees, though not workers in Chattanooga.

Pallone pressed EPA air enforcement director Phillip Brooks on whether individuals at Volkswagen or the company itself could face criminal charges. He says the EPA will look at the impact on vehicle owners before approving anything. “We wish we had learned it sooner”, he told lawmakers. So far, the company has set aside more than $7 billion to address the scandal, which Horn said may not be enough.

The Australian action comes a full three weeks after the German auto giant confessed to installing “defeat devices” in more than 14 million cars worldwide and a week after head office announced plans to refit and recall the engines of five million vehicles worldwide. But he offered little new, saying the company’s external investigation remains at a preliminary stage.

An unknown number of these cars remain in quarantine at US ports. Horn told lawmakers that Generation 2 vehicles could begin to receive fixes around the middle of next year.

Volkswagen Group of America’s chief told a congressional panel Thursday he believes the defeat devices put in diesel vehicles are due to “a couple of software engineers” – not a corporate decision.

Horn says there was no discussion or decision by the company’s board to install the defeat devices software.

“Without the cheating software, the affected cars would not have been authorised under the Euro 5 emissions regulation”, said the newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Urea injection is standard in many diesel vehicles as a way to limit emissions, however Volkswagen previously avoided the technology because of its added cost to consumers. It wasn’t immediately clear when VW would refile its application, but Horn’s testimony said the company is working with regulators to get certification. But the fixes might affect performance, including a one-or-two mile-per-hour drop in top speed.

The oldest cars, 325,000 vehicles grouped as Generation 1, would require major changes including the installation of new hardware.

Mr Horn said he struggles to sleep because of the scandal. He said that the recent events “do not reflect the company that I know and to which I have dedicated 25 years of my life”.

That is about 18 months before the company admitted to USA regulators it used software to cheat tests, and is likely to add to criticism it has not acted swiftly enough to tackle its wrongdoing.

Repeatedly, Horn expressed his remorse to lawmakers.

Representative Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, said Horn’s statements did not give him “much confidence that we’re going to see these vehicles get fixed”.

The USA is continuing its investigations into how Volkswagen has managed to cheat in emissions tests since 2008.

Reps. Diana DeGette, a Democrat, and Tim Murphy, a Republican, spoke about their cars with affection.

“Our plan is not to buy back the inventory”, he said. He inherited his grandmother’s 1972 Super Beetle, which he still owns.