Volkswagen Group of America admitted to sidestepping clean air standards after the EPA and California’s clean air watchdog confronted the German automaker with evidence of high in-use emissions from light-duty diesels.
On Friday, Sept. 18, the EPA slapped VW with a notice of violation for using sophisticated software to circumvent national emissions standards. The software, which the EPA calls a “defeat device,” is designed to implement full emissions control systems when the car is undergoing state emissions testing. During normal driving, the emissions control is turned off, permitting the significantly harmful diesel fumes to be expelled—40 times more than allowed under the Clean Air Act. VW and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) have both initiated investigations.
Volkswagen CEO Dr. Martin Winterkorn, on Sunday, apologized for breaking the public’s trust and vowed to cooperate fully with agency investigations.
He ordered an internal investigation, saying in a statement, “We do not and will not tolerate violations of any kind of our internal rules or of the law.”
But this episode is not the first time the EPA or CARB has had run-ins with VW. In the past, both agencies charged VW with similar violations, which resulted in penalties.
Defective Oxygen Sensors
VW previously failed to report its discovery of emission defects in at least 329,000 of its 1999, 2000, and 2001 Golf, Jetta, and New Beetle vehicles.
In May 2001, after conducting a random test, the EPA identified a problem with tailpipe emissions in the 1999 model vehicles caused by a failed oxygen sensor. It turns out, VW knew about the problem for a year already—since it had received numerous warranty claims associated with cracked oxygen sensors—but failed to report it. According to the Clean Air Act, any emission-related defect found in 25 vehicles or engines of the same model year has to be reported within 15 days.
