By Nick Jaynes, Mashable, SouthFloridaReporter.com, Nov. 21, 2015 – The Volkswagen Group has effectively admitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that not one diesel model it sold in the U.S. since 2009 complies with emissions laws.
Volkswagen and Audi officials told the EPA that all 3.0-liter TDI diesel engines sold in the U.S. between 2009 and 2016 were fitted with emissions-cheating “defeat devices,” the agency said Friday.
Previously, the EPA had identified around 10,000 3.0-liter diesel vehicles in the U.S. — from model years 2014, 2015 and 2016 — as emissions violators. But on Nov. 2 the Volkswagen Group denied the EPA’s claims that those models — including VW, Audi and Porsche — were fitted with cheating software.
Now, however, VW says every single one of the larger diesel engines were fitted with software to cheat tailpipe emissions testing. Exactly how many cars that represents is not yet clear.
New testing has revealed these engines produce as much as nine times the legal limit of tailpipe pollutants.
The admissions about the 3.0-liter engines come on top of the previous revelations that similar cheating software had been installed on VW’s smaller 2.0-liter TDI engines for the 2009 to 2015 model years. That means every VW diesel sold from 2009 onward had the cheating devices.
The widening scandal will likely bring an additional round of fines, lawsuits and angered dealers and owners.
