The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) have rejected Volkswagen’s proposal for the Dieselgate fix. The exact details of the fix proposed by the German conglomerate for the 2.0-litre TDI engine are not known.
Volkswagen had submitted a fix to get the 2.0-litre TDI engines to comply with the regulations in December last year. The solution was based around a new software and a new catalytic converter. The American agencies, in a strongly worded reply, said that the proposal was incomplete and fell short of meeting the legal requirements.
Industry experts have not been surprised with the first rejection and expect Volkswagen to come up with a comprehensive solution quite soon. If the second fix gets rejected, it certainly will become a matter of concern for the VW group. Volkswagen officials are continuing the dialogue with the federal officials to work out a solution at the earliest.
Meanwhile, Porsche has independently applied for a fix for their 3.0-litre diesel V6. Volkswagen is also expected to apply for a solution for their 3.0-litre V6 available with the Touareg by the first week of February. It has to be seen if this judgement has any bearing on the other applications as well.
