U.S. officials have turned their focus to the software cheats Volkswagen used on its V6 diesel engines.
Citing German weekly , reports that U.S. authorities have found three unapproved software programs in the Volkswagen Group’s 3.0-liter V6 TDI engine used in the Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne and Volkswagen Touareg. According to the report, the software allows the engine to shut down emissions control systems after about 22 minutes, where official methods to measure emissions typically last about 20 minutes.
Last September, the German automaker admitted to cheating on diesel emissions testing in the U.S., and has reached a settlement where it will spend as much as $15.3-billion to buy back vehicles from customers as well as providing funding to benefit cleaner technologies.
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That settlement, however, only includes the 2.0-liter four-cylinder diesel engines and not the larger 3.0-liter V6 units. In the U.S., there are approximately 85,000 affected vehicles and a deal covering those could still be months away.
The German publication added that Audi managers are scheduled to appear at a hearing in front of U.S. environmental authorities on August 10.
[Source: Reuters]
