TFLcar asked “When will the second shoe drop?” Well, several other shoes have now dropped.
First, VW AG announced that “some 11 million vehicles” are affected by the scandal. Basically, 11 million vehicles world-wide with the EA189 TDI turbo-diesel engine have the software that was shown to cheat the U.S EPA emissions tests. The software detects when it’s being tested, this is also called “dyno mode” when the front wheels of the car are moving and the rear wheels are standing still. The bad part is the engine is working differently in this mode to expel lower emissions and pass the test.
Of course, this mode is also active when you are undergoing an annual emission test procedure at your local testing center.
This statement also says that VW AG set aside 6.5 Billion Eur or $7.3 Billion to address the problem resulting from this scandal.
The EA189 TDI is the 2.0L four-cylinder engine which include the Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technology. This software is also said to affect EA188 and the 2015 EA288 generation of the four-cylinder.
Next, the EPA issued a stop sale on all Volkswagen diesel vehicles in the United States. The agency did to provide a timeline for when the stop sale can be lifted, but said that more work is needed from all parties involved to determine the proper fix to the problem and to retest the vehicles. This process could take up to a year, but actual dates are unknown at this time.
Finally, there is a report from a German Tagesspiegel magazine that VW AG CEO, Martin Winterkorn is expected to step down this Friday Sep 25th. He is expected to be replaced by Matthias Müeller (59), who is the current CEO of Porsche. Matthias Müeller is said to meet with the Board of Director tomorrow. Volkswagen spokesperson denied this report. There is no official word from the company about the succession of the CEO position at this time.
Watch the statement by the VW Group of America CEO – Michael Horn, to address the VW TDI emissions “Dieselgate” scandal.
And here is the debut of the 2016 VW Passat from the same event last night.
