Recently Volkswagen admitted to using special software to change diesel cars emissions during tests – for over 500,000 Volkswagen diesel cars sold in the United States. Worldwide, the number may be as high as 11 million cars. Thanks to special software supplied by Bosch, when tested, cars would show legal emission levels, but during regular driving, they would have much higher emissions, in some cases as much as 40 times the permissible level. Bosch says it warned Volkswagen not to use the software in production cars – that it was only meant for factory testing.
United States Justice Department starteda criminalinvestigation, and Environmental Protection Agency has threatened to impose fines up to $18 billion – this was all BEFORE Volkswagen admitted to the shenanigans. Volkswagen initially denied it was trying to game the inspections, and claimed higher emissions where due to "various technical issues and unexpected in-use conditions” – or so say sources within EPA that spoke to Reuters.
It was only after EPA threatened to withhold certification for its 2016 models that Volkswagen admitted they had special software that altered car performance during tests. Since then the managementsaid it was "deeply sorry" for the breach of trust, and the Volkswagen CEO resigned.
EPA said they would test cars made by other automakers, Volkswagen Italy suspended sale of cars, and the worldwide repercussions are just starting.
On the positive side for the US Volkswagen diesel owners there will not be any changes in part availability since the OEM manufacturers are not affected by the scandal.
We will keep you posted as the story unfolds.