What is Volkswagen
accused of?
It's
been dubbed the "diesel dupe".
In September, the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that many VW
cars being sold in America US
VW has had a major push to sell diesel cars in the US US Europe , are fitted with the so-called
"defeat device".
The company has also been accused by the EPA of modifying software on the
3 litre diesel engines fitted to some Porsche and Audi as well as VW models. VW
has denied the claims, which affect at least 10,000 vehicles.
In
November, VW said it had found "irregularities" in tests to measure carbon dioxide emissions levels that
could affect about 800,000 cars in Europe -
including petrol vehicles. However, in December it said that following
investigations, it had established that this only affected about 36,000 of the
cars it produces each year.
This 'defeat device'
sounds like a sophisticated piece of kit.
Full details of how it worked are sketchy, although the EPA has said that
the engines had computer software that could sense test scenarios by monitoring
speed, engine operation, air pressure and even the position of the steering
wheel.
When the cars were operating under controlled laboratory conditions -
which typically involve putting them on a stationary test rig - the device appears to have put
the vehicle into a sort of safety mode in which the engine ran below normal
power and performance. Once on the road, the engines switched out of this test
mode.
The result? The engines emitted nitrogen oxide pollutants up to 40 times above what is
allowed in the US
hat has been VW's response?
"We've
totally screwed up," said VW America boss Michael Horn, while the group's
chief executive
at the time, Martin Winterkorn, said his company had "broken the trust of
our customers and the public". Mr Winterkorn resigned as a direct result
of the scandal and was replaced by Matthias Mueller, the former boss of
Porsche.
"My
most urgent task
is to win back trust for the Volkswagen Group - by leaving no stone
unturned," Mr Mueller said on taking up his new post.
VW has
also launched an internal inquiry.
With VW recalling millions of cars
worldwide from early next year, it has set aside €6.7bn (£4.8bn) to cover
costs. That resulted in the company posting its first quarterly loss for 15 years of €2.5bn in late
October.
But
that's unlikely to be the end of the financial impact. The EPA has the power to
fine a company up to $37,500 for each vehicle that breaches standards - a
maximum fine of about $18bn.
The
costs of possible legal action by car owners and shareholders "cannot be estimated at the current time", VW added.
Structure of the
Lead：
WHO- Volkswagen
WHEN- November
WHAT- defeat device
WHY- to improve results on the
test
WHERE- US
HOW-install a defeat device
1.
Diesel
柴油機
2.
emissions
排放
3.
stationary
靜止的
4.
emitted
發射
5.
nitrogen
氮
6.
executive
行政人員
7.
urgent
急切的
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