US EPA and CARB approve final Volkswagen diesel modification
16 July 2018
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have approved emission modifications for the last remaining Volkswagen (VW) vehicles containing undisclosed software which deliberately shut down emission control equipment. The legal process began in 2015 and eventually involved more than a half million diesel VW, Audi and Porsche vehicles in the USA. More than 80,000 of those cars are registered in California.
The vehicles affected by the final modification are 3 liter, Generation 1.2 diesels. For these vehicles, the only remaining action is for VW and Audi to submit their resale plans for modified vehicles owners have returned.
VW first publicly admitted the use of illegal “defeat devices” in September of 2015 after CARB engineers identified the software. VW, Audi and Porsche did not disclose their cycle beating software strategy, which was programmed to operate emission control equipment only when the vehicle was being tested for certification. The result was thousands of tons of excess NOx emissions.
The financial settlement in the Volkswagen case is the largest ever agreed to by automakers, totaling more than $20 billion, much of which the company spent to buy back affected cars and on other customer compensation. California has received $423 million for mitigation of harm and VW has agreed to invest $800 million in zero emission vehicle technology in the state over ten years.
The approved modifications affect the following models (the numbers refer to vehicles registered in California):
- More than 10,000 2015, 2 liter, Generation 3, Beetles, Beetle convertibles, Golfs, Golf Sportwagens, Jettas, Passats and Audi A3s
- More than 6,000 2012-2014 2 liter, Generation 2, automatic transmission, Passats
- Approximately 47,000 2009-2014 2 liter, Generation 1, Jettas, Jetta Sportswagens, Golfs, Beetles, Beetle convertibles and Audi 3s
- Approximately 7,000 2013-2016, 3 liter, Generation 2, sport utility vehicles including VW Touraregs, Porsche Cayennes and 2013-2015 Audi Q7s
- Approximately 3,000 2009-2012 3 liter Generation 1, sport utility vehicles including VW Touaregs, and Audi Q7s
- Approximately 5,600 3 liter, Generation 2 passenger cars, including Audi A6, A7, A8, A8L, and Q5.
Source: CARB