Volkswagen Will Issue Software Fixes for Cars in Emissions Scandal

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Matthias Mueller, CEO of Volkswagen Group, speaks to the media following a meeting of high-ranking Volkswagen managers on November 20, 2015 in Wolfsburg, Germany. Meanwhile Volkswagen officials are scheduled to meet with officials in the USA to present details on how the company will fix 482,000 Volkswagen vehicles sold in the U.S. affected by the emissions cheating software to comply with U.S. emissions standards. Volkswagen is coming under increasing pressure in the U.S. by officials in Washington and California to buy the faulty diesel cars back.
The Volkswagen logo is seen on November 20, 2015 in Wolfsburg, Germany.Alexander Koerner—2015 Getty Images
By Nash Jenkins

Volkswagen will issue instructions for repairing vehicles equipped with software to deceive emissions tests, the subject of a scandal that has engulfed the German automobile maker since September.

In a speech to company managers on Monday, Volkswagen CEO Matthias Müller said that Germany’s federal automobile regulator had approved a software update for vehicles with 2-L diesel motors, and had given “basic” approval on a fix for those with 1.6-L motors, the Guardian reported. The fixes mean cars will no longer be able to sense when their emissions are being tested and temporarily tailor them to meet legal standards.

Müller said the repairs on most vehicles would not be substantial.

“For about 90% of the group’s vehicles in Europe, the solutions are confirmed,” he said, according to the Guardian. “The cost for the retrofitting is technically, physically and financially manageable.”

Since September, when the results of an independent test of Volkswagen’s diesel cars were made public, the company — helmed by Müller after the scandal drove former CEO Martin Winterkorn to resign on Sept. 23 — has taken a sales and public-relations hit. Its share of the European market fell to 25.2% in October.

[Guardian]

 

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