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VWRust

In the most two months since the VW scandal first bankrupt, the High german automaker has repeatedly broadened the telescopic of the problem. First, it was a problem with a express number of The states vehicles. And then it was a problem on several million cars. Then some of the visitor'due south other brands were impacted. Today, VW finally came all the way clean: Not i VW or Audi sold in the United States from the 2009 to 2022 model years met US regulations.

The "skilful" news, if you lot desire to call it that, is that there's a actually simple way to tell if your diesel fuel is affected. Does information technology say VW or Audi on it, and is information technology 2009 or newer? Then yous're afflicted. The bad news is that this affects more Usa vehicles — an boosted 85,000, according to the EPA. The Porsche Cayenne is also affected; Porsche'southward brand had escaped tarnish thus far.

The engine is gorgeous. The tailpipe, not so much.

The engine is gorgeous. The tailpipe, non so much.

The 3.0-liter vehicles covered in this new announcement aren't accused of using "defeat devices," simply apparently deployed "alternative frazzle control devices." Exactly what the difference is betwixt the two is unclear, but either way, this is more hot water for a company that's already been hammered in the past few months. The EPA is withal testing to run into if the pollution command devices too qualify as defeat devices. Presumably an emission command system that cheats and lies about how much pollution information technology dumps in the air still qualifies as an "culling" pollution control system — simply a really bad one.

VW is claiming that the software it used on 3.0-liter vehicles in the US is legal in the European union, but we doubtable the Eu'due south regulators will desire to check that for themselves. VW has announced that it would slash spending by $1.i billion next year, and invest in fewer products, factories, and other initiatives. The firm has already set aside several billion dollars to bargain with damages, but as the scandal has grown, that corporeality looks woefully incomplete. VW is theoretically on the hook for upward to $21 billion in fines, but that's not a realistic sum either — the EPA will probable bring a conform for a substantial amount of money, but it won't be anywhere near that high.

Information technology'due south difficult to come across how the US arm of the VW scandal could get much worse for the company, since it's already had to admit that every single diesel it sold since 2009 failed to run into the and so-new 50-state ecology standards. Then once again, the EPA is probably going to be curious well-nigh the state of VW'due south gasoline engines after the diesel kerfuffle. Hopefully there's nothing hiding under that particular fix of rocks.