Volkswagen has said that around 11 million cars are affected by a diesel emissions scandal in the US.
Between 2009-2015, VW deceived the authorities about how much noxious gas its cars were releasing into the atmosphere. It did this switching on full emissions control systems when the cars were being tested by the government, but turning them off when customers drove away with the cars.
The exact cars affected are the Jetta, Beetle, Audi, A3 and Golf models dating 2009-2015 and Passat models dating 2014-2015.
Volkswagen has said it won’t sell any more 2015 models or produce any more 2016 models until they have fixed the emissions system.
Drivers of these cars in the US are not in any immediate danger from continuing to use these models. Volkswagen has said it will contact customers so that the emissions systems can be fixed.
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The emissions scandal is the second car scandal to hit the German carmaker. In August, it was discovered that immobilisers fitted to more than 100 car makes had weak security that could be disabled by thieves – in some cases within a few minutes.
The device is used by a total of 26 car manufacturers including Audi, Fiat, Honda, Volvo as well as Volkswagen. Many top-range brands including Bentley, Ferrari, Porsche and Maserati are among those known to use them.
But Volkswagen went one step further by trying to prevent the academics who discovered the fault from publishing their findings. It took a year for the High Court to find in favour of the academics before the research was finally published in August.
