WASHINGTON: The US government has expanded its investigation of pollution-skirting devices in diesel vehicles to other manufacturers after Volkswagen admitted it used them to thwart US environmental standards.
The Environmental Protection Agency said Monday that it will screen for so-called “defeat devices” in diesel vehicles on the road that are produced by other manufacturers. The California Air Resources Board is a partner in the investigation, an EPA spokesperson said in an email to AFP.
The EPA declined to identify the automakers it is looking at.
The expanded investigation came in the wake of Friday’s announcement by the EPA and the California authorities that Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest automaker, had admitted it equipped 482,000 cars in the United States with the illegal defeat devices.
The covert software device turns off emissions controls when the car is being driven and turns them on only when the car is undergoing an emissions test.
The vehicles affected are four-cylinder VW and Audi diesel cars built since 2008.
Under the US Clean Air Act, fines of up to US$37,500 may be imposed on each car, meaning VW could be fined more than US$18 billion.
In Germany, currently hosting the Frankfurt motor show vaunting the industry’s strengths and environmental credentials, the government launched an investigation into whether Volkswagen or other carmakers are doing anything similar in Germany or Europe.
Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt told the Bild daily that he had asked Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority “to immediately have specific and extensive tests conducted on all Volkswagen diesel models by independent experts.”
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said that authorities there, too, would conduct emissions tests on three Volkswagen car models in mid-October to check for similar deception.
Beyond the potential fines and lawsuits, and the billions of euros that evaporated in Volkswagen’s stock market value as its shares plunged 18.19 percent to 133 euros (US$148.80), wiping out more than US$15 billion, the company faces a potentially crippling blow to its reputation.
The EPA said that the agency had not issued a formal recall for the VW vehicles but expects to “compel” the company to issue a recall to reduce the emissions impacts of those vehicles.
“Depending on the complexity of the repair and the lead time needed to obtain the necessary components, it could take up to one year to identify corrective actions, develop a recall plan, and issue recall notices,” the US agency said.
