VW U.S. chief ‘didn’t know of device’

Volkswagen’s top USA executive offered apology for emission cheating scandal in front of US lawmakers on Thursday but no remedy schedule was announced.

In a two-hour hearing before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Michael Horn also said that most of the affected vehicles would continue to emit excessive levels of pollutants for at least a couple of more years.

The necessary hardware fix, which has yet to be worked out at the company’s Wolfsburg, Germany, headquarters, will exacerbate frustration among vehicle owners and probably amplify demands that Volkswagen buy back the cars for their original prices.

Meanwhile in German, prosecutors raided Volkswagen offices in a search for evidence.

“Volkswagen’s word isn’t worth a dime”, she said.

They said they were looking for data linked to the so-called “defeat devices”, and wanted to find out who was responsible for the alleged manipulation.

Horn said the scandal over those detected defeat devices was “deeply troubling”, promising VW would fully cooperate with authorities to ensure “this will never happen again”.

Volkswagen Group of America CEO Michael Horn on Thursday told a House panel that the automaker has withdrawn its application to the Environmental Protection Agency for certification of emissions regulations of those vehicles.

Horn said he learnt in early 2014 of “a possible emissions non-compliance”, after researchers at the University of West Virginia found that VW cars it tested were releasing up to 40 times as much nitrogen oxide as was legally permissible.

The German carmaker had admitted last month that 11 million diesel cars had been installed with a device that detects when the auto is being tested for emissions.

About 100,000 Canadian cars are affected.

So far, VW has set aside $7.3 billion to handle the cost of the scandal, but that may not end up being enough. “Those of us from Michigan take great pride in having a hand in numerous cars on the road today and we appreciate the challenges automakers face to meet consumer demands year after year, but reports of Volkswagen selling cars with devices aimed at skirting the law can not, and will not be tolerated”.

“I was also informed that the company engineers would work with the agencies to resolve the issue”, Horn said in his prepared remarks.

“It is important for the public to know that, as the EPA has said, these vehicles do not present a safety hazard and remain safe and legal to drive”, he said.