The Environmental Protection Agency discovered defeat devices installed on cars made by Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche to cheat emissions. The agency is continuing to investigate these issues to secure responsible business and the United States Clean Air Act.
In addition to Volkswagen vehicles, Audi and Porsche models were also discovered using defeat devices to cheat on emissions. The device is said to have a line of cheat codes installed in a car's computer box to pump out nitrous oxide nine times before emission takes place. The device helped the cars to pass emission testing conducted by the EPA under the legal limits of testing.
In EPA's issued second Notice of Violation, the list added diesel versions of the 2016 Audi Q5, A6 Quattro, A7 Quattro, A8, A8L, Porsche 2015 Cayenne and the Volkswagen 2014 Touareg. The agency noted that these vehicles were built to intentionally violate the U.S. Clean Air Act. This adds another 10,000 cars to the widening emission scandal for all sold vehicles in the United States since 2014. An unknown volume of 2016 models could be in the list as well. Yet, the agency is not asking the carmakers to order a recall.
EPA Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Assistant Administrator Cynthia Giles stated that Volkswagen failed its obligation for the second time to comply with the U.S. Clean Air Act, adding that all companies should play by the rules.
The EPA with its federal partners will continue to investigate these issues to secure the welfares of the Clean Air Act. The agency will safeguard a playing field level for responsible businesses and will make certain that the consumers will get the environmental performance expected.
In a conference call, Giles particularized on how the defeat device operated. The defeat device had two modes of programming. One was the temperature conditioning mode that caused the vehicles to emit less pollution and the other was normal mode that caused the vehicles to emit far more pollution.
In response to whether or not Porsche or Volkswagen offered the information about additional cars affected by the defeat device, Giles deep-rooted that the defeat devices were discovered through emission testing by the agency and by the Board of California Air Resources.
