EPA Recalling Volkswagens, Audis for Bogus Emissions Tests
The Environmental Protection Agency took the rare step of recalling more than 500,000 Volkswagen and Audi cars for using a “defeat device” to force the cars to comply with emissions standards, the New...
View ArticleConsumer Reports Strips ‘Recommended’ Rating From VW TDIs
This is hardly the most severe fallout from Volkswagen admitting that it installed “defeat devices” on some of its diesel models to help pass emission tests, but it’s the first of many. Consumer...
View ArticleAudi: More Than 2 Million Cars Worldwide Have Illegal Software
Audi said that 2.1 million of its cars worldwide have been fitted with illegal software to help it cheat emissions tests, Reuters reported. The automaker announced that multiple models including the...
View ArticleDid Other OEMs Know Volkswagen Was Cheating?
While working on a story about some very old cars, I stumbled upon something relevant to the latest big story in the automotive world. I ran into a Model T collector who’s also a powertrain engineer...
View ArticleVolkswagen’s Withdrawal of EPA Application Is Not Because of ‘Defeat Device’...
Update: Official statement from EPA. During his voluntary testimony for a congressional committee Thursday, Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn announced the company would withdraw their application...
View ArticleReport: Volkswagen Scandal Involved At Least 30 Managers, Not ‘Small Group’
German magazine Der Spiegel reported Wednesday that at least 30 Volkswagen insiders and managers had knowledge of the illegal “defeat device” and there may be more. The claim would somewhat refute to...
View ArticleReport: Volkswagen Suspends Quality Chief For ‘Incriminating’ Letters
Volkswagen has suspended its chief of quality control for “incriminating correspondence” it found regarding its illegally polluting diesel cars, German newspaper Bild (via Automotive News) reported...
View ArticleVolkswagen Says Newer Diesels May Have Illegal Defeat Device, Too
Volkswagen said Thursday that early versions of its EA 288 engines could have been equipped with the illegal emissions software at the heart of its diesel scandal, Reuters reported (via Automotive...
View ArticleBREAKING: Audi Admits to Defeat Device, Details Fix For 3-liter Diesel Engines
Audi, a brand within Volkswagen Group that markets the majority of 3-liter diesel engines sold by the group in the United States, released a statement Monday detailing how it plans to fix vehicles that...
View ArticleEPA Gives 2016 BMW X5d Clean Bill of Emissions, Kind Of
(Update: With EPA comment and clarification on their tests.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved for sale Friday the 2016 BMW X5d after new tests of that car revealed that it did not use...
View ArticleSupplier Bosch Under Investigation for Role in VW Cheating Scandal
Auto supply giant Bosch is being investigated for its part in the widespread emissions cheating scandal that has engulfed Volkswagen, Bloomberg reported (via Automotive News). Prosecutors in Stuttgart...
View ArticleVolkswagen’s Woes Mount, Fraud Office Investigating Misuse of Money
The European Union’s anti-fraud office is investigating Volkswagen for misusing publicly funded loans to develop illegally cheating software in its cars, the New York Times reported Wednesday....
View ArticleEnvironmental Leaders Rebut Musk Letter to CARB
Fifteen leaders of environmental and health groups signed off on a letter sent to environmental regulators Dec. 18 asking officials to fully punish Volkswagen in response to Tesla CEO Elon Musk and...
View ArticleThis Is How Volkswagen’s Diesel Emissions Cheat Works, According to ECU...
Volkswagen’s emissions cheating program closely follows a set of parameters that are very similar to those defined by the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), an engineer said this week. The cheat exists...
View ArticleUPDATE: Feds File Lawsuit Against Volkswagen For Approximately $40 Billion
(UPDATE: Updates the story throughout, including penalty figures. Volkswagen comment.) The Justice Department on Monday filed a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against Volkswagen for illegally selling...
View ArticleReport: Volkswagen Withholding Documents from US States’ Lawsuits
The New York Times says U.S. states attorneys general are accusing Volkswagen from withholding critical documents from their investigations into the automaker’s admission that more than 500,000 cars...
View ArticleReport: Many Volkswagen Managers Knew About ‘Defeat Device’
Many staffers and managers within Volkswagen’s engine-development department knew about Volkswagen’s illegal emissions-cheating “defeat device,” including a whistleblower who told other executives,...
View ArticleVolkswagen Still Talking Technicalities in Definition of ‘Cheat’
Last we heard, Volkswagen’s small loophole that it could technically skate through on the definition of “cheating” in Europe was fairly well closed. Last week, Volkswagen’s chief in the UK asserted in...
View ArticleVolkswagen Lawyer: Automaker May Buy Back Unfixable Cars
A lawyer for Volkswagen said in court that the automaker would buy back cars that it can’t fix in time, the first admission from the company that some of its cars may not be fixable, according to the...
View ArticleVolkswagen Waited Six Years to use ‘Defeat Device’: Report
The device Volkswagen used to cheat on emissions tests sat on a shelf for years before the automaker employed it on its diesel-powered vehicles. Audi engineers created the software in 1999, but it was...
View ArticleNissan Gets a Diesel Emissions Scandal of its Very Own
It’s nowhere near the scale of the Volkswagen debacle, but Nissan is in hot water with the South Korean government over dodgy emissions from its diesel SUV. That country’s environment ministry accuses...
View ArticleGM Under Fire in Germany; Company Denies Installing ‘Defeat Devices’
Volkswagen must be enjoying watching its rival squirm on the end of the same hook. German regulators have singled out GM’s Opel division over carbon dioxide emissions from some of its vehicles, but the...
View ArticleIndictment: Volkswagen Updated Emissions Cheat in 2014, Hid it From EPA and CARB
On September 9th, Volkswagen engineer James Liang pleaded guilty after being indicted on a variety of crimes related to VW’s deliberate use of a software routine that cheated on government diesel...
View ArticleFCA Slammed With Twin Lawsuits While Waiting on EPA Investigation
The Environmental Protection Agency alleged last week Fiat Chrysler Automobiles had installed undisclosed emissions software in 104,000 of its diesel vehicles — issuing the company a notice of...
View ArticleVolkswagen’s Diesel Whistleblower Identified in New Book
While it wasn’t quite on par with the drama of a mob trail, the criminal case of Volkswagen’s diesel emissions scandal possesses a lot of similarities. A break in the case, police raids, a powerful...
View ArticleExtensive Probing Continues In Germany
While companies are often found guilty of sketchy and illicit behavior, it’s becoming increasingly difficult not to feel some measure of sympathy for German automakers. The same goes for the government...
View ArticleVolkswagen Group Fined an Additional $1.18 Billion for Emissions Cheating,...
In 2017, the U.S. hit Volkswagen with a $4.3 billion fine as part of the company’s plea agreement for violating of the Clean Air Act. It was a rough ride for the automaker, caught using defeat devices...
View ArticleVolkswagen’s Dieselgate Still Going Strong in Europe
While Volkswagen’s diesel emission fiasco has died down in the United States, costing the automaker billions before going achieving dormancy, the legal fires burn brightly in Europe. On November 14th,...
View ArticleGermany Engineering Firm Pleads Guilty to Involvement in VW Emissions Scandal
IAV GmbH, the German engineering company co-owned by Volkswagen Group, plead guilty to a felony count of conspiracy in a U.S. District Court on Friday, to the surprise of absolutely no one. Last month,...
View ArticleWhat Ever Happened to Mercedes’ Dieselgate?
After Volkswagen admitted to equipping some of its diesel-powered autos with illegal software designed to circumvent emissions testing in 2015, every automaker on the planet fell under enhanced...
View ArticleDastardly Diesels: Suzuki and Jeep Busted Breaking EU Emissions Rules
While Volkswagen remains the industrial face of diesel-related scandals, it’s just one of many automakers fingered for emissions cheating. VW was simply the first to be dragged through the coals, and...
View ArticleFormer Audi Managers Indicted in Dieselgate Case
On Thursday, Munich-based prosecutors announced the indictment of four more ex-Audi managers in relation to Volkswagen Group’s infamous diesel emission scandal. This follows the charges brought against...
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