Wow, hang on, there seems to be a passing hurricane.
No, that's just the collective gasp of relief of Volkswagen employees that their EA288 engines don't contain any iffy software.
Huh? I though all the news at the moment was about Volkswagen diesels with dodgy software.
Not quite. The scandal currently engulfing Volkswagen is about 'Defeat Device' software in its EA189 family of diesel engines, which were mostly built between 2008 and 2012. Those are the ones uncovered by the US Environmental Protection Agency as performing artificially better on the official test than in the real world, and the ones causing all the recall and replacement headaches for Volkswagen right now, not to mention the fines and criminal charges.
Bad enough that 11 million odd cars have to be recalled and rectified, but there was a rumour, sparked by a report from the EPA last week, that Volkswagen's current range of high-tech EA288 diesel engines, which has thus far been above suspicion, were being investigated for a 'Defeat Device' too. If that had been the case, Volkswagen might well have been ruined as current Golf, Passat and so many more models might have had to have been withdrawn from sale.
Thankfully for Volkswagen, that now seems not to be the case and the EA288 engines have been given the all-clear. "Volkswagen confirms today that no software constituting an improper defeat device as defined in law is installed in vehicles with EA 288 EU5 as well as EU6-engines in the European Union. Consequently, new vehicles of the Volkswagen Group offered within the European Union with those engines comply with legal requirements and environmental standards" read a statement from Volkswagen. "After thorough examination it is now confirmed that no software constituting an improper defeat device as defined in law is installed in vehicles with EA 288 EU5-engines. Before, Volkswagen Group has confirmed that new EU6-compliant vehicles offered within the European Union fulfil all legal requirements and environmental standards."
Neil Briscoe - 23 Oct 2015