VW admits ‘Defeat Device’ fitted to 3.0 litre V6 Diesel – but say it’s LEGAL in UK & Europe

Volkswagen has admitted fitting software to their 3.0 litre V6 diesel engines that acts as a defeat device, but claim it’s legal in the UK and Europe.

Earlier this month, we reported that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the US claimed that Volkswagen was also scamming emissions on its 3.0 litre V6 diesel-engined cars, although VW claimed it was just an omission of disclosure and that no device had been fitted on the cars. But they did halt sales of all V6 diesels in the USA.

But now Volkswagen has admitted that the V6 Diesel does have the ability to reduce its NOx emissions during testing, although they claim it’s a software setting so can’t be considered a defeat device. Which sounds like they’re splitting hairs.

But whatever VW are calling it, it means there are some 85,000 cars running round the US – like the VW Touareg, Porsche Cayenne, Audi A6, Audi A7, Audi A8 and Audi Q5 – from 2009-2016 MY fitted with a 3.0 litre diesel engine which emits up to nine times the legal levels of NOx in the real world.

But it seems, as we reported when the story broke, that although the EPA have declared this to be a defeat device, and therefore illegal in the US, the same does not apply in the UK and Europe where there are hugely more VW Group cars fitted with the 3.0 litre diesel.

Under European emissions tests there is no provisions, as far as we can work out, for a ‘real world’ NOx emissions level, so the only thing that matters is what a car emits during testing, even if that in no way represents its real emissions and is achieved artificially. Which does seem barking.

Clearly, VW are going to have another mess to clear up in the US with the 3.0 litre diesel engines, but it’s unacceptable – if it proves to be the case – that they will escape any kind of sanction in Europe because the regulations are so flawed that the actual emissions of NOx are not subject to limits.