AUTONEWS

Dieselgate still hangs over VW

Almost 10 years later, the Volkswagen Group continues to drag out the Dieselgate case that many thought had already been resolved. It is now known that a German environmental group, Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), accused the software developed to try to fix the problem of continuing to deceive the measurement system, emitting more pollutants than is legally permitted. And the judge agreed with him and considered that Dieselgate, which essentially consisted of the application of illegal software to 11 million models by the German group, was repaired thanks to new software that… is also illegal.

The DUH complaint, which accused the correction of the engine management program of remaining illegal, albeit for other reasons, proved that the 2.0 TDI engine, type EA-189, turns off the mapping that allows it to reduce polluting emissions, maintaining -within legal limits, whenever the temperature is low and the engine is still cold. This means that, during these periods, the 2.0 TDI engine pollutes above what is legally permitted. And this powertrain still continues to power a series of models, from VW to Audi, including Skoda and Seat.

By agreeing with the plaintiffs, in line with a similar decision it took about a year ago, the court revoked the previous authorization granted to the German conglomerate, which allowed it to overcome the Dieselgate controversy with a software update, instead of forcing it to replace all hardware on all vehicles involved.

The Volkswagen Group admitted to Bloomberg that there is no way to solve the problem of engines with illegal software, adding that it will appeal the decision. But if you are unable to do so (and it is quite possible that this will happen), then it is likely that you will have to call the workshops of several million vehicles, an operation that would be extremely laborious and costly. Worse still, the environmental association DUH does not intend to stop there, as it has already sued manufacturers such as BMW, Mercedes and Fiat, a total of 18 manufacturers.

​Mundoquatrorodas