VW Dieselgate: EPA claim 3.0 litre diesel in Porsche & Audi scams emissions tests too

The Volkswagen Defeat Device scandal is threatening to grow, with EPA claims that the device is also fitted to the VW Group’s 3.0 litre diesel engines.

There were rumblings in the early days of the Volkswagen Defeat Device story that it wasn’t just VW’s EA 189 diesel engine that had software that changed emissions levels during testing, but that VW’s 3.0 litre diesel engine – as fitted to cars like the Porsche Cayenne, Audi Q7, Q5, A6 and A8 as well as the VW Touareg and others – was also in the frame.

That claim seemed to have been batted away by VW, but now America’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is claiming the 3.0 litre diesel has been fitted with software that changes emissions during testing.

The EPA say the cars have software that sense when the car is being tested, and if it is it operates in a low NOx temperature conditioning mode that creates emissions which are fully compliant, but exactly one second after the tests are complete it reverts to normal mode, emitting up to nine times the levels of NOx.

In response to the EPA claims, VW has issued a statement:

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) informed Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft on Monday that vehicles with V6 TDI engines had a software function which had not been adequately described in the application process.

Volkswagen AG wishes to emphasize that no software has been installed in the 3-liter V6 diesel power units to alter emissions characteristics in a forbidden manner.

It seems likely that the software in the 3.0 litre diesel is potentially legal (there are ‘get out of jail free’ clauses in emissions regulations – both in the US and Europe – which allow software to change emissions to protect the engine) and VW appear to be claiming the software in the 3.0 litre diesels is legal, but that they failed to adequately notify authorities of its existent.

But if it is legal, then why didn’t they declare it before?