Washington DC - The California Air Resources Board and Environmental Protection Agency said late on Tuesday that Volkswagen had submitted a plan to fix 80 000 recalled three-litre diesel SUVs and cars that emit up to nine times legally allowable pollution.
After more than four months of lengthy talks and making little apparent progress in winning approval to begin fixing any US Volkswagen diesel vehicles with excess emissions, the comprehensive proposal for three-litre vehicles offers Volkswagen a chance to finally win approval to start selling diesel vehicles again.
US and California regulators said in November that Volkswagen had used undeclared auxiliary software to allow Audi, Porsche and VW vehicles to emit excess emissions.
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The disclosure came six weeks after the EPA said Volkswagen had engaged in emissions cheating in 482 000 cars with smaller two-litre engines that allowed vehicles to emit up to 40 times legally allowable pollution.
California had set a Tuesday deadline under state law for Volkswagen to submit a plan to recall and fix the vehicles with diesel engines that were designed by its Audi unit.
Audi of America spokesman Mark Clothier said Tuesday: “We are fully cooperating with the US authorities to make our V6 three-litre engine compliant with regulations. After meetings between EPA and California and our technicians, we filed a recall plan.”
The EPA said it also received the proposal. Federal regulators must separately approve any recall fix plan. EPA spokeswoman Laura Allen said on Tuesday the agency would review the plan.
REVIEW
The plan covers the diesel 2009-2016 Volkswagen Touareg, 2013-2016 Porsche Cayenne and 2014-2016 Audi A6 Quattro, Audi A7 Quattro, Audi A8, Audi A8L, Audi Q5 and 2009-2016 Audi Q7. Volkwagen faces a US stop sale that bars it from selling 2016 diesel models.
The California Air Resources Board said it would give the three-litre proposal a “thorough and complete review to make sure the plan addresses” excess emissions.
Audi said it hoped the board would make a decision on whether to approve the plan in the “near future”.
In January California rejected Volkswagen’s proposal to fix the 482 000 two-litre cars, calling it “substantially deficient”.
A lawyer for Volkswagen said in January the company was considering buying back some vehicles. The US Justice Department sued Volkswagen in the same month for up to $46 billion (R745 billion) for allegedly violating environmental laws.
Last week, Volkswagen gained approval to start fixing 8.5 million vehicles in Europe, having said excess diesel emissions affected as many as 11 million vehicles worldwide.
Reuters