Volkswagen recalls cars affected by its emission scandal

It's been dubbed the "diesel dupe".

In September 2015, German car giant Volkswagen (VW) admitted to cheating emissions tests in the US. It started when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suspected some cars being sold in America had devices in their diesel engines that could detect when they were being tested, changing the performance accordingly to improve results.

A car in the 1970s going through a test cycle at EPA’s motor vehicle emission laboratory

The engines of affected VW cars had computer software that could sense test scenarios by monitoring speed, engine operation, air pressure and even the position of the steering wheel. When the cars were operating under controlled laboratory conditions, the device put the vehicle into a safety mode in which the engine ran below normal power and performance.

The Volkswagen logo

Once on the road however, the engines switched from this test mode. The result? The engines emitted nitrogen oxide pollutants up to 40 times above what is allowed in the US!

The EPA's findings cover almost half a million cars in the US, including the VW-manufactured Audi. But VW admitted that about 11 million cars worldwide are fitted with the so-called "defeat device".

Volkswagen’s iconic first car model, the Type 1 or Beetle, the longest-running and most-manufactured car of a single platform ever made

After an internal inquiry, Europe’s biggest carmaker will start a massive recall of all cars troubled by the scandal in January next year; they will be fixed by the end of 2016.

While VW has set aside €6.5 billion (S$10 billion) to cover costs, that's unlikely to be the end of the financial impact. In the US alone, the EPA has the power to fine a company up to $37,500 for each vehicle that breaches standards - a maximum fine of about $18 billion (S$25 billion).

Volkswagen second car model, Type 2, another car icon and one of the forerunners of the modern cargo and passenger vans, sometimes known as the “hippie van”

On Wednesday (October 7), VW’s new chief executive told employees in Wolfsburg, Germany, the firm is facing changes that “will not be painless”. Future investment in plant, technology and vehicles would be put "under scrutiny" and all other investments that were not deemed absolutely necessary would be abandoned or delayed.

Volkswagen Wolfsburg industrial plant

But he assured workers that,

"We will do everything to ensure that Volkswagen will stand for good and secure jobs in the future."

(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)