VW Diesel Scandal: Engineers Reportedly Admit to Installing Software

Volkswagen's woes continue into another week as the carmaker is being removed from the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, and has also had its two Green Car Of The Year awards rescinded. VW's reputation continues to take a hit, Bild am Sonntag, a German newspaper, claimed that during an internal investigation, many engineers admitted that they installed the controversial software in the cars.

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Reportedly, the engineers said that had it not been for the software the EA 189 engine that was developed by Volkswagen in 2005 could not have complied with emission norms and cost targets.

Last week, Matthias Mueller, CEO, Volkswagen, explained that the company will soon initiate the process to start informing customers with tainted cars over the coming weeks and months to allow refitment for vehicles affected by the scandal.

The diesel scandal that broke out last month, lead VW to accept that it fitted 11 million cars with the software that aided manipulation of emission tests. Authorities in South Korea, France, Italy, Canada, Germany, the UK, and India have also started investigations against the German carmaker after the scandal broke.

Also Read: Volkswagen to Drop 'Das Auto' Slogan

Interestingly, VW's emission scandal may have repercussions for other carmekrs too. Last month, Rosstandart, the Russian state standards agency, said that it had requested BMW's unit in Russia for information about potential concerns about its exhaust emissions systems. Now an Italian financial paper, Il Sole 24 Ore, has reported that the authorities in Italy will test roughly 80 diesel models by 8 carmakers including Volkswagen. The report further added that the aforementioned tests will most probably include about 1,000 new and used cars.

(With inputs from agencies)