Jan 11, 2017
VW pleads guilty to emissions cheating
The Department of Justice said VW had a long-running scheme to sell about 590,000 diesel vehicles in the US fitted with a defeat device to cheat on emissions test. The firm is pleading guilty to "Participating in a conspiracy to defraud" the US and its American customers, as well as breaking the Clean Air Act by using cheating software in its cars. The $4.3bn fines means that the total costs associated with the emissions cheating scandal are set to exceed the $19.2bn the company has set aside to deal with the issue. VW has already agreed to a $15bn civil settlement with environmental authorities and car owners in the US. The scandal erupted in September 2015 when the US Environmental Protection Agency found that many VW cars sold in America had a "Defeat device" - or software - in diesel engines that could detect when they were being tested and adjust the performance accordingly to improve results. The German car giant subsequently admitted cheating emissions tests in the US and many countries throughout the world, including the UK. On Monday it emerged that VW executives knew about emissions cheating two months before the scandal broke, but chose not to tell US regulators, according to court papers.
Related companies
Make a complaint about Volkswagen by viewing their customer service contacts.
