VW & Audi Ready Software Fix For Emissions Cheating Diesels

The federal agency issued its statement after Volkswagen and Audi officials said in a meeting Thursday the technology in the newer cars was also in models dating back to 2009.

This engine was developed by Audi and is used in the Audi US models A6, A7, A8, Q5 and Q7 from model year 2009 onwards.

“Based on this information, EPA and CARB will continue to investigate and take all appropriate action under their respective authorities”, the statement said.

Earlier in November, the regulators blamed the VW for installing the cheating software on around 10,000 vehicles of 2014-2016 model.

In the meantime, Audi spokesperson Brad Stertz said the company has admitted that it failed to advise the EPA on the extra emissions control equipment. While a violation under U.S. law, the software complies with laws in Europe, she said.

It is also not clear what role Bosch played and how closely it worked with VW to modify the engine management software and how much it knew about VW’s intentions to use software to cheat on emissions standards. That news led to the resignation of VW CEO Martin Winterkorn less than a week later as well as the disclosure by VW that as many as 11 million cars worldwide were affected.

Audi of America communications chief Jeri Ward confirmed that the EPA was informed that the software was used on all 3.0-liter diesels since the 2009 model year.

Business Insider reports that VW has admitted to the EPA and the California Air Resources Board that an additional 85 000 vehicles, on top of the already documented 482 000 cars, have been fitted with cheat software to rig emissions tests.

The revelations have sparked investigations in several countries and the company is facing potentially tens of billions of dollars in fines and compensation to vehicle owners.

The EPA alleged that the engine’s control software was able to detect an emissions test and enter a “temperature conditioning” mode that limited the output of NOx. And even if it gets approved and Audi is able to issue the fix as proposed, it won’t save the company finesfor not disclosing the AECD’s in the first place, not to mention a potential lawsuit from the U.S. government.