Volkswagen’s emissions scandal is far from being over or too clear. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accused the German brand of “forgetting” to specify that they’ve installed their cheat devices also on SUVs and additional luxury cars.
Porsches and Audis are also affected by ‘Dieselgate’
The Volkswagen scandal emerged in September and it looked that the German car manufacturer will be transparent in offering any details in the investigation. But, according to USA Today, EPA announced on Monday that 10,000 more cars sold on American soil could also be part of the investigation:the 3-liter diesel engine versions of the 2014 Volkswagen Touareg, the 2015 Porsche Cayenne, and the 2016 Audi A6 Quattro, A7 Quattro, A8, A8L, and Q5.
It’s the first time when Porsche’s name is spoken in the Volkswagen scandal. “We have clear evidence of these additional violations and we thought it was important to put Volkswagen on notice and to inform the public,” stated Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, according to the same source.
It looks like the new deception from Volkswagen was found by the EPA, California Air Resources Board and Environment Canada while they were comparing tests from different car companies. Now, Volkswagen could receive new penalties, of $375 million, alongside its previous $18 billion fines.
The whole ‘cheating system’ used by VW, explained by the EPA
Gilles also explained how Vokswagen’s engineers fooled the emissions tests. “At exactly one second after the completion of those tests, the vehicles flip back into “normal mode” (from its “temperature conditioning mode”, meant to mislead regulators) and continue emitting nitrogen oxides are high levels”.
Since September, Volkswagen admitted that up to 11 million diesel cars worldwide (Jetta, Passat, Golf and Beetle) were “equipped” with the emission cheat software. The company’s representatives haven’t offered a response yet to EPA’s accusations.
