Emission Scandal: Mexico Issues Volkswagen $8.9 Million Fine
car&bike Team
1 min read
Feb 16, 2016, 03:36 PM
Volkswagen's Mexico unit has been fined $8.9 million by environmental authorities for failing to obtain the required certification permits for thousands of cars that it imported into the country.
Profepa, Mexico's environmental prosecutor, said in a statement that it levied a fine of just over 168 million pesos ($8.9 million) on the German carmaker for importing and selling 45,494 vehicles without obtaining the proper emission as well as noise level certification permits.
The Mexico fine covers a range of brands in the automobile manufacturer's family, including Audi, Bentley, Porsche, SEAT, and, of course, Volkswagen (VW). All the vehicles affected are 2016 models.
Also Read - Emission Scandal: Volkswagen Begins Recall of Diesel Cars in Europe
In a December 2015 inspection, the agency discovered that those vehicles lacked two NOM environmental compliance certificates, one that establishes the maximum allowable level of total hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and particles from new cars' exhaust pipes and another that sets the maximum allowable level of noise and the measurement methodology.
Profepa said the fine was separate from an investigation being conducted in Mexico over the Volkswagen defeat device scandal.
Also Read - Volkswagen's Overall Group Sales Return to Growth in January
In September of last year, Environment Secretary Rafael Pacchiano said Mexico would review Volkswagen's emissions certificates for diesel engine vehicles the automaker had sold in Mexico since 2009 to verify if they were in compliance with national standards.
That probe came after Volkswagen acknowledged that the defeat devices had been installed on nearly 500,000 2.0-liter diesel-powered Audi, Porsche, and Volkswagen vehicles sold in the US since 2008. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accused the carmaker last September of using the devices to dupe regulators.
The software on those engines detected when emissions testing was taking place and turned on emissions controls only when the vehicles were being operated in a test laboratory.
When those same vehicles were being driven under normal conditions, the controls were turned off and they spewed up to 40 times the United States' legally allowable amount of nitrogen oxide, which contributes to the formation of smog and acid rain.
Volkswagen said last September, after the scandal broke, that 11 million of its vehicles worldwide had been equipped with the defeat devices.
Profepa, Mexico's environmental prosecutor, said in a statement that it levied a fine of just over 168 million pesos ($8.9 million) on the German carmaker for importing and selling 45,494 vehicles without obtaining the proper emission as well as noise level certification permits.
The Mexico fine covers a range of brands in the automobile manufacturer's family, including Audi, Bentley, Porsche, SEAT, and, of course, Volkswagen (VW). All the vehicles affected are 2016 models.
Also Read - Emission Scandal: Volkswagen Begins Recall of Diesel Cars in Europe
In a December 2015 inspection, the agency discovered that those vehicles lacked two NOM environmental compliance certificates, one that establishes the maximum allowable level of total hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and particles from new cars' exhaust pipes and another that sets the maximum allowable level of noise and the measurement methodology.
Profepa said the fine was separate from an investigation being conducted in Mexico over the Volkswagen defeat device scandal.
Also Read - Volkswagen's Overall Group Sales Return to Growth in January
In September of last year, Environment Secretary Rafael Pacchiano said Mexico would review Volkswagen's emissions certificates for diesel engine vehicles the automaker had sold in Mexico since 2009 to verify if they were in compliance with national standards.
That probe came after Volkswagen acknowledged that the defeat devices had been installed on nearly 500,000 2.0-liter diesel-powered Audi, Porsche, and Volkswagen vehicles sold in the US since 2008. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accused the carmaker last September of using the devices to dupe regulators.
The software on those engines detected when emissions testing was taking place and turned on emissions controls only when the vehicles were being operated in a test laboratory.
When those same vehicles were being driven under normal conditions, the controls were turned off and they spewed up to 40 times the United States' legally allowable amount of nitrogen oxide, which contributes to the formation of smog and acid rain.
Volkswagen said last September, after the scandal broke, that 11 million of its vehicles worldwide had been equipped with the defeat devices.
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