VW cops record fine over emissions cheating
Volkswagen has been ordered to pay CA$196.5 million (NZ$226.7m) after pleading guilty to violating federal diesel emissions standards in Canada.
The German marque imported nearly 128,000 diesel Volkswagen and Audi vehicles that had “defeat devices” – software that enables cheating on emissions controls – between January 2008 and December 2015, an investigation by Environment and Climate Change Canada found.
“By entering guilty pleas, the company has admitted wrongdoing and accepted full responsibility,” says Tom Lemon, a prosecutor with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. He adds the fine is 26 times larger than the highest federal environmental fine imposed in the country.
Meanwhile, Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection has said it is fining Volkswagen 120m zlotys (NZ$47.2m) for disseminating false information about emissions, Reuters reports.
Emissions strategies under scrutiny
Other carmakers are also being investigated by officials around the world over their emissions.
Mitsubishi and the automotive components manufacturer Denso recently had their German operations raided by investigators over suspicions that engines were fitted with a “defeat device set up to meet emissions limits during testing but not in real driving conditions”. Both companies say they are co-operating with German authorities, Bloomberg reports.
In the Netherlands, Suzuki’s Vitara and Fiat Chrysler’s Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel models have been found to violate emissions rules. The Dutch road authority RDW has ruled the vehicles must be fixed or face a ban on sales across Europe after they used “prohibited emissions strategies” during tests.
RDW says Jeep has developed a software fix and the authority has ordered the company to recall the model across Europe to roll it out. Suzuki has yet to find a solution for the Vitara.
“Suzuki must come with adequate improvement measures or the RDW will begin the process of revoking its European type approval,” the RDW says.
Regulators across the world have been testing diesel models since Volkswagen admitted in 2015 it used illegal software to cheat US emissions tests.
