There seems to be no end to the Volkswagen dieselgate scandal which involved millions of vehicles across various countries that have been designed to cheat emissions tests using Defeat Device software in the cars' computers. While the initial scandal revelaled that various diesel VW models dating back to 2009 were outfitted with the defeat device, we are now finding out that this now involves newer Audi and Porsche models.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice of violation today to Volkswagen AG, Audi AG and Porsche AG, over the following vehicles:
- 2014 VW Touareg.
- 2015 Porsche Cayenne.
- 2016 Audi A6 Quattro, A7 Quattro, A8, A8L, and Q5.
It is the second such notice of violation issued to Volkswagen by the EPA in its emissions testing scandal. It is the first time Audi and Porsche have been confirmed as creating cars with the cheat device.
This affects model years 2014 to 2016 for 3-litre engines, unlike the earlier notice, which affected models with 2-litre diesel engines. This will not only inconvenience millions of owners, who are now forced to comply with a recall, but retuning the vehicles to produce legal emissions, could very well impact their performance and fuel efficiency.
"Today we are requiring VW Group to address these issues. This is a very serious public health matter," said Richard Corey, executive officer of the California Air Resources Board.