EPA Update on Recent Volkswagen Announcement

WASHINGTON -- Sept. 25, 2015: Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a letter sent to vehicle manufacturers notifying them that the agency is adding to its confirmatory testing additional evaluations designed to look for potential defeat devices.

View the letter below.

Last Friday, EPA sent a Notice of Violation of the Clean Air Act to Volkswagen AG, Audi AG, and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. alleging that four-cylinder Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars from model years 2009-2015 include software that circumvents EPA emissions standards.

These cars contain software that turns off emissions controls when driving normally, and turns them on when the car is undergoing an emission test. Known as a “defeat device,” this design feature results in the cars emitting up to 40 times the amount of NOx emissions that the standards allow. NOx standards are in place to ensure public health is protected.

EPA’s notice of violation, along with an In-Use Compliance Letter that the California Air Resources Board issued, provide information and details relating to the VW violations:

View a pdf of the Notice of Violation here: Notice of Violation

View the California Air Resources Board’s In-Use Compliance Letter here: In-Use Compliance

For more information on EPA’s recent action, as well as information for owners of the affected vehicles, visit: EPA Violations

Letter to Volkswagen:

Notices of Violations Volkswagen

EPA issued a notice of violation (NOV) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) to Volkswagen AG, Audi AG, and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. on September 18, 2015. The NOV alleges that four-cylinder Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars from model years 2009-2015 include software that circumvents EPA emissions standards for certain air pollutants. The software produced by Volkswagen is a “defeat device,” as defined by the Clean Air Act. California is separately issuing an In-Use Compliance letter to Volkswagen, and EPA and the California Air Resources Board have both initiated investigations based on Volkswagen’s alleged actions.

Affected diesel models include:

Jetta (MY 2009 – 2015)

Jetta Sportwagen (MY 2009-2014)

Beetle (MY 2012 – 2015)

Beetle Convertible (MY 2012-2015)

Audi A3 (MY 2010 – 2015)

Golf (MY 2010 – 2015)

Golf Sportwagen (MY 2015)

Passat (MY 2012-2015)