Audi recalls cars after German commission detects cheating on emissions

The Volkswagen group has found itself in the midst of a scandal once again. According to Alexander Dobrindt, transport minister of Germany, Audi installed emission-cheating software in 24,000 cars. Dobrindt announced on Thursday that the luxury carmaker has been told to recall cars fitted with V6 and V8 diesel motors and sold between 2009 and 2013 in Europe.

The minister has set a deadline of June 12 for the carmaker to come up with a diversified plan to correct their cars. Added to that, the affected Audi models with supposed Euro-5 emission standards emit about twice the legal limit of nitrogen oxides when the steering wheel is turned more than 15 degrees. Audi said that the problem lies in the interaction between transmission and engine control units, which are to blame for the emissions overshoot.

Of the 24,000 affected models, at least 14,000 are registered in Germany. The software update will begin in July and Audi will continue to co-operate with Germany’s KBA motor vehicle authority.

This is the first time that Audi’s top of the line A8 has been implicated in the emissions cheating scandal. The 80,000 vehicles in the United States affected by VW's ‘Diesel-gate’ scandal included Audi A6, A7 and Q7 models.