German Ministry officials have recently raided VW head offices in Wolfsburg and other locations as part of a criminal inquiry into the firm’s diesel scandal. The officials have since confirmed a total of 3.6 million VW vehicles in the EU will require a hardware fix.
While UK vehicles look to get by with software tweaks and injector swaps, vehicles in the USA may be in need of physical changes to the catalytic converters and/or the Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) AdBlue urea injection systems.
VW’s US boss, Michael Horn, admitted these changes may be needed to pass the strict US emissions tests. Horn also added that any fix will likely affect the performance of the cars, and that customer compensation is currently being looked into.
In the UK, the VW Group is looking to implement a three-stage plan to recall and repair all 1.2 million vehicles affected by its diesel emissions scandal by the end of 2016. The first vehicles to be recalled are the EA 189 2.0-litre TDIs, ideally in early 2016, with the rest of the 60 models from the five affected brands recalled and repaired by the end of 2016.
The Group is currently working with the German Motor Industry Federation (KBA) to approve a permanent fix to the emissions crisis with the first round of recalls expected to start in the first quarter of 2016. The German authorities have announced a mandatory recall to all of the 8.5 million vehicles in the EU thus rejecting VW’s proposal for voluntary repairs to the affected vehicles.
