Volkswagen has withdrawn its application to the EPA to certify its 2016 lineup of diesel-powered vehicles, a sign the company has not yet figured out a good way to pass emissions tests without cheating.
"We are working with the agencies to continue the certification process," Michael Horn, CEO of VW's American operations, said in remarks prepared for a hearing tomorrow before the House of Representative's Energy and Commerce Committee.
Beyond potentially give up an entire year's worth of very valuable models in the US, the move indicates VW doesn't really know how to fix this problem.
“The fix is not only too costly, but may not even be functional yet," says Rebecca Lindland, a senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book. "If there was a software fix they would have implemented it long ago. This isn’t a simple matter of a recall or fixing a broken or compromised part. This is the entire powertrain, impacting the daily driving experience, not just in specific situations. This impacts the very foundation of the vehicle.”
This morning, the company announced it will begin recalling the 11 million diesel cars equipped with software that allowed them to cheat on and pass emissions tests, early next year. Most will be fixed with a software update, but others will require costly new hardware.
