Does my Volkswagen, Audi or Skoda car have a defeat device?
ARAI SAYS 300,000 cars likely to have used the software
Does my Volkswagen have a defeat device? For around 300,000 Indian customers (including those who brought Audi and Skoda cars, also made by Volkswagen) , the answer is yes, and the company is in the process of recalling these.
German automaker Volkswagen AG used a derivative of its infamous defeat device in diesel cars sold in India to get around the need to meet emission norms, a top official at India’s premier vehicle testing agency said.
The device is essentially a software that allows cars to pass emission control tests by showing much lower levels of pollution during the tests than when they are in actual use.
“There was a software, which they themselves have said that they would like to change, in India. It was a global disclosure. So, Indian models will also undergo the change,” Rashmi Urdhwareshe, director of Punebased Automotive Research Authority of India (ARAI), said in an interview. This software is a “derivative of the original software” or defeat device used in the US because it had to deal with “India-specific emission regulations”, Urdhawareshe added.
ARAI is a collaboration between the automotive industry and the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises.
The Mumbai-based Indian unit of Volkswagen has said that about 323,700 Volkswagen, Skoda and Audi cars in India manufactured by the group are equipped with the EA 189 family of diesel engines, which are in question globally. Mint first reported this in December 2015.
The company has consistently denied using a defeat device in India, although this claim was first made last year by Union minister for heavy industry Anant Geete, based on ARAI’s investigation. A Volkswagen group spokesperson said the firm had informed the government and competent authorities in 2015 why it believes that its cars are not equipped with a defeat device and holds the same stand today.
Globally, cars powered by these engines have the defeat device. In the US, it was found that emission levels of Volkswagen diesel cars were 40 times above permissible levels.
Following ARAI’s investigation, Volkswagen has asked the agency to authorise the replacement of the software.
“They have asked us to authorise their vehicles... model by model they are submitting and we are approving them with due validation and verification. Many of the models have been authorised. They have announced the recall on those models,” Urdhwareshe said. “In another month’s time, the process should be over.”
ARAI has found the device in almost all VW group models, including Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda cars “wherever EA 189 engines are used,” according to Urdhwareshe.
From 2008 to end of November 2015, around 198,500 cars from Volkswagen, 88,700 cars from Škoda and 36,500 cars from Audi sold in India were equipped with the EA 189 engine series, including 1.2-litre, 1.5-litre, 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre diesel engine variants.
To prevent such incidents, Urdhwareshe said that India will have to start testing emissions in actual driving conditions.
Volkswagen’s use of a defeat device in India is “not a product failure but a clear case of cheating,” said SP Singh, president of the Indian Foundation of Transport, Research and Training.
He added that the central government is “duty-bound” to ask the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to institute a probe.
Volkswagen’s supervisory board is set to sign off on a $4.3-billion settlement of US penalties for rigging cars to cheat on emissions tests, Bloomberg reported.