Volkswagen emissions scandal
2010 VW Golf TDI with defeat device displaying "Clean Diesel" at a US auto show.
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| Date | 2008–2015 |
|---|---|
| Location | Worldwide |
| Type | Emissions violations |
| Cause | Engaging full emissions control only during testing |
| Participants | International Council on Clean Transportation, West Virginia University, Volkswagen Group, US EPA, other regulators |
| Footage | http://www.vwdieselinfo.com |
| 1999 | New US Tier 2 rules established to replace Tier 1. NOx limit decreasing from 1.0 g/mi to .07 g/mi |
|---|---|
| 2004–2009 | Phase in period of diesel emissions rules |
| 2007 | VW suspends sales of current diesel lines awaiting technology to meet new standards. Bosch allegedly warns VW not to use its software illegally |
| 2008 | VW announces new Clean Diesel cars. Some cars are described in Europe as "EU4 emissions standard (EU5 compliant)". Cars with the test-rigging software are sold in the UK. |
| 2009 |
US Tier 2 fully in effect, VW TDI cars go on sale in US. In Europe, some models are now being described as Euro emission class 5, a change from class 4 in 2008. |
| 2009–2015 | VW diesel sales in the US rebound, Clean Diesels win several environmental awards, receive tax breaks |
| 2014 | International Council on Clean Transportation asks WVU CAFEE to help demonstrate the benefits of US diesel technology, hoping to have Europe follow suit |
| May 2014 | Instead, CAFEE finds discrepancies showing poor on-road emissions. Results presented at public forum and published, getting attention of EPA |
| 2014–2015 | EPA repeats tests, and contacts VW for explanation of poor real world NOx emissions |
| Dec 2014 | VW orders voluntary recall of TDI cars but CARB and EPA not satisfied |
| 3 Sep 2015 | EPA threatens to not certify 2016 diesels, VW responds by admitting software was programmed to cheat testing |
| 18 Sep 2015 | Public announcement by EPA of order to recall 2009–2015 cars |
| 20 Sep 2015 | VW admits deception, issues public apology |
| 21 Sep 2015 | First business day after news, VW stock down 20% |
| 22 Sep 2015 | VW to spend $7.3B to cover costs of scandal; stock declines another 17% |
| 23 Sep 2015 | CEO Winterkorn resigns |
| 29 Sep 2015 | Volkswagen announces plans to refit up to 11 million vehicles affected by the emissions violations scandal |
| 2 Oct 2015 | Volkswagen sets up an online based service on which customers can check if their car is affected based on the vehicle identification number |
| 8 Oct 2015 | VW US CEO Michael Horn testifies before US Congress |
| 3 Nov 2015 | VW's investigation finds that CO2 emissions and fuel consumption figures are also affected by "irregularities". |
| 25 Nov 2015 | The German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) approves VW fixes for 1.2, 1.6 and 2.0 diesel engines in Europe. |
| 9 Dec 2015 | VW revises previous estimates on CO2 emissions irregularities, saying that only around 36,000 vehicles are affected. |
| 9 Mar 2016 | VW US CEO Michael Horn resigns, citing a "mutual agreement" with the company. |
| 21 Apr 2016 | VW announces that it will offer its US customers "substantial compensation" and car buyback offers for nearly 500,000 2.0-litre vehicles. |
| 6 Nov 2016 | Regulators in California discover that Audi engines were rigged to produce lower CO2. |
| 11 Jan 2017 | VW agrees to plead guilty to the emissions scandal and to pay $4.3 billion in penalties. Six VW executives are charged. |
 EA 189 engine, starboard side |
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EA 189 engine, port side |
US Tier 2 fully in effect,
The Volkswagen emissions scandal (also known as "emissionsgate" or "dieselgate") erupted on 18 September 2015, when the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice of violation of the Clean Air Act to German automaker Volkswagen Group after it was found that Volkswagen had intentionally programmed turbocharged direct injection (TDI) diesel engines to activate certain emissions controls only during laboratory emissions testing. The programming caused the vehicles' NOx output to meet US standards during regulatory testing but emit up to 40 times more NOx in real-world driving. Volkswagen deployed this programming in about eleven million cars worldwide, and 500,000 in the United States, during model years 2009 through 2015.
The findings stemmed from a study on emissions discrepancies between European and US models of vehicles commissioned in 2014 by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), summing up the data from three different sources on 15 vehicles. Among the research groups was a group of five scientists at West Virginia University, who detected additional emissions during live road tests on two out of three diesel cars. ICCT also purchased data from two other sources. The new road testing data and the purchased data were generated using Portable Emissions Measurement Systems (PEMS) invented by an EPA engineer in 1995. The findings were provided to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in May 2014.
Volkswagen became the target of regulatory investigations in multiple countries, and Volkswagen's stock price fell in value by a third in the days immediately after the news. Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned, and the head of brand development Heinz-Jakob Neusser, Audi research and development head Ulrich Hackenberg, and Porsche research and development head Wolfgang Hatz were suspended. Volkswagen announced plans to spend US$7.3 billion (later raised to €16.2 billion, US$18.32 billion) on rectifying the emissions issues, and planned to refit the affected vehicles as part of a recall campaign.
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