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[oaspetele]

http://www.theguardi...scandal-deepens

VW dealers in US running out of cars to sell as emissions scandal deepens

[ska]

US Justice Department suing VW for breaching Clean Air Act

 

The United States Justice Department filed yesterday a civil lawsuit against Volkswagen for allegedly violating the Clean Air Act.

VW is being accused of installing illegal devices on almost 600,000 cars in order to meet the emissions regulations. Filed in the Eastern District of Michigan and transferred to Northern California, the lawsuit mentions VW breached the U.S. Clean Air Act four times. The accusations include modifying the emissions control system and failing to report the violations.

Moreover, the U.S. Justice Department is also investigating VW for criminal fraud allegations as the company is being accused of misleading regulators and consumers in United States. According to the lawsuit, “Volkswagen AG knowingly concealed facts that would have revealed” that around 500,000 cars equipped with the 2.0-liter TDI EA189 engine had two emissions calibrations. The first one was for road use, while the other was developed specifically to be used during emissions testing. It’s the same story with the larger 3.0-liter V6 engine used in United States on larger models like the Touareg, Q7, and Cayenne.

VW is facing fines up to $32,500 per car for each violation that occurred before January 13, 2009 and up to $37,500 per car for each violation after that date. In a hypothetical worst-case scenario, Volkswagen would pay more than $90 billion, representing a lot more than the $18+ billion fine mentioned by EPA last September.

Source: reuters.com