Audi joins Mercedes in recalling diesel cars for emissions 'FIX' - 850,000 cars in Europe

Audi joins Mercedes in recalling diesel cars for emissions ‘FIX’ – 850,000 cars in Europe

Audi is recalling 850,000 diesel car in Europe for an emissions ‘fix’, including Porsche and VW cars using Audi’s six and eight cylinder diesel engines.

A few days ago we learnt that Mercedes is recalling three million cars to ‘fix’ emissions with new software, and now Audi are going down the same route.

The numbers aren’t as great for Audi, but there will be around 850,000 cars recalled in Europe for the Audi ‘fix’, including cars from Porsche and VW using the same engines.

The recall from Audi covers six and eight-cylinder Euro 5 and Euro 6 engines, with a software update designed to reduce levels of NOx in normal use.

Models affected with the V6 and V8 engines include Audi A4, A6, A7 and A8 and Q7, as well as some VW Touareg and Porsche Cayenne models. Audi estimate it will cost about £1.8 billion to complete the software updates.

This all seems to be part of a tactic to avoid prosecution as German authorities dig in to exactly what car makers have been doing to ensure their diesel cars pass official emission tests, and pre-empt any stop orders on car sales.

What isn’t know is exactly what the ‘fix’ will do to economy and performance, but with many complaints on VW’s dieselgate fix about poor running and performance it seems likely Audi will suffer similar complaints.

After all, if all that’s needed is a bit of software, why didn’t the cars arrive with it in the first place if the performed as well with it?