Dieselgate: Germany issues compulsory recall

There were yet more headaches for Volkswagen overnight in Europe as the German government demanded a fix for all its troubled diesels, while US sources revealed even MY2016 cars were involved.

And German newspapers revealed that far from one or two rogue software engineers, at least 30 Volkswagen managers knew that the “defeat” emissions-cheating software code was illegal.

Further, VW has also warned the US EPA that some of its Model Year 2016 diesel engines might also contain a hidden “defeat” code.

Volkswagen, has also lost the man it tapped to head the turnaround in its troubled North American operation, where the first half million of the affected 11 million cars were uncovered.

Skoda boss Winfried Vahland has left the Volkswagen Group over differences of opinion over US strategy, Skoda announced yesterday.

Vahland was only appointed to the role three weeks ago in the wake of the Dieselgate scandal and leaves after 25 years within the Volkswagen Group, starting at Audi.

“He has reached this decision due to varying opinions on the design of the Group’s new North America region; it has no connection with the current events regarding diesel engines,” Skoda’s statement insisted.

But the company has also lost more senior personnel, including the suspension of the head of its Kassel production plant, Falko Rudolph, who was head of Volkswagen diesel engine development between 2006 and 2010.

The MY 2016 Volkswagen diesels would have at least started their development during this period, with Volkswagen this week telling US regulators that they may also contain a hidden emissions-cleaning code, different to the one at the centre of Dieselgate.

The second device is a piece of software that directs the catalyst, which plays a large role in cleaning up emissions, to heat up faster to improve its NOx-scrubbing performance.

Instead of NOX, it then emits the more harmless Oxygen and Nitrogen gases.

Though not strictly illegal and is not designed to cheat on emissions tests, it has to be approved by the EPA, which it wasn’t, leading Volkswagen to withdraw its application to sell its 2016 diesels in the US.

But the greatest immediate concern for Volkswagen will be in the German government’s unusual step of enforcing a mandatory recall, beginning in January next year.

While the Volkswagen rollout plan for the recall was due to start at the same time, the German government insists all cars be recalled at the same time, while Volkswagen has responded that it won’t have all the parts necessary to retrofit all the car to bring them up to standard until September next year.

The recall affects more than 2.4 million cars in Germany -- spread across the Volkswagen, Skoda, Seat and Audi brands – making it the country's biggest recall since current laws took effect in 1997 and more than the record 1.9 million cars recalled across the industry last year.

Automotive News reports that number will increase to 8.5 million for the whole of the EU, or almost a third of all the vehicles sold by VW in the region between 2009 and August this year. The Volkswagen Group has already recalled almost 100,00 VW, Audi and Skoda cars in Australia.

Other European countries are already talking about following Germany down the compulsory recall path, which is seen as whipping Volkswagen for treating them like fools as much as it is helping Volkswagen diesel owners or bringing the cars into line for NOx limits.

Not even the US government issued a mandatory recall of the half million Dieselgate cars it found there, with the German government rejecting the detailed voluntary recall proposal delivered to it by Volkswagen last week.

German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt insisted the mandatory recall would be overseen by the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA).

“The KBA believes that the software used in the diesel engines constitutes an illegal defeat device,” Mr Dobrint insisted.

“The authority has demanded that Volkswagen remove the software and take all steps necessary to ensure the emissions regulations are met.

“We have the impression that Volkswagen is technically capable of carrying out the technically necessary measures,” he said.

Volkswagen refused to comment on the edict, insisting it only received the notification from the KBA yesterday (Thursday) and would need time to review it.

Volkswagen’s original proposal to the KBA to repair the cars (which would have become its global recall template) was to offer a software update on 1.2- and 2.0-litre diesel EA189 motors, deleting the “defeat” code software that only turned on the strongest emissions-cleaning technologies when it thought it was being tested in a laboratory.

The 1.6-litre versions of the EA189, which are fitted with fuel-injection and engine management systems from Continental, rather than the usual Bosch units, will take additional exhaust after-treatment hardware to fix.