 "Diesel cars loiter in lots as VW dealers, owners sit and wait")
Volkswagen AG's diesel-emissions scandal just got bigger. The US Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board said that the investigation has been expanded to include every Volkswagen and Audi model with a 3.0-litre diesel engine from model years 2009 through 2016 - a total of roughly 85,000 vehicles.
That comes on top of 482,000 vehicles that VW admitted in September were rigged to pass emissions tests. That revelation, concerning 2-litre diesel engines from the 2009 through 2015 model years, sparked criminal probes in Europe and the US. Volkswagen also presented California regulators with a proposal to make those cars compliant with pollution standards.
"The most unfortunate aspect of this news, in addition to the environmental harm, is that it slows VW's ability to move beyond the negative headlines and start the rebuilding process," said Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book, a car-buying website. "You can't recover from a scandal while it's still growing."
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On November 2, the EPA said that a few of the larger-engine models from VW, Audi and Porsche from 2014 to 2016 were found to have equipment that counted as a "defeat device", which altered emissions-control systems in a way that violated clean-air laws. Volkswagen and Audi officials said in a meeting with the EPA that the equipment was present in models going back to 2009, the agency said.
Audi of America had previously issued a stop-sale order for the A6 Quattro, A7 Quattro, A8, A8L and Q5 models from the 2013 to 2016 model years, company spokeswoman Jeri Ward said. In the meeting, Audi told regulators the Q7 from years 2009 to 2012 had the same technology, she said.
The meeting between company officials, EPA and the California regulators involved technical experts who talked about three pieces of equipment on the 3.0-litre engines that should have been disclosed as auxiliary emissions control devices, Ward said. According to the agencies, one of the three devices qualifies as a defeat device, she said.
The technology at issue is software that adjusts the temperature of the exhaust system, Ward said. While a violation under US law, the software complies with laws in Europe, she said. Not all auxiliary emissions control devices violate US pollution laws, but they must be flagged to regulators for further evaluation. If regulators conclude that the devices' primary purpose is to evade emissions tests, they're considered a defeat device in violation of the law.
The meeting between company engineers and technical experts at EPA and CARB was a technical discussion "to talk through the violations so that both sides understand the data and the systems and the software," Ward said. "It's part of the process of coming to an agreement in the end."
Audi agrees that it will need to come up with additional measures that satisfy the regulators, Ward said. The company is cooperating with the agencies and wants to continue to have productive conversations with them, she said.
"Today's announcement adds to the growing list of troubling questions for Volkswagen," lawmakers, led by Fred Upton, chairman of the US House Energy and Commerce Committee, said.
