Proposed Volkswagen fix rejected by California
The state of California rejected the proposed Volkswagen fix that was put forward. Stating that it falls short of meeting the legal requirements.
The state said the proposed solution was “Incomplete, substantially deficient and falls far short of meeting the legal requirements.”
The state also believed that the proposed Volkswagen fix could not be implemented soon enough
California sent a confidential report offering a detailed explanation as to why the proposed Volkswagen fix would not work. The state will continue its talks with Volkswagen in order to find a solution.
“Since then, Volkswagen has had constructive discussions with CARB, including last week when we discussed a framework to address the issue.”
No immediate penalties were assessed, but California did issue a notice that Volkswagen had violated air quality regulations.
The EPA has agreed with California that, “Volkswagen has not submitted an approvable recall plan to bring the vehicles into compliance and reduce pollution. The EPA has conveyed this to the company previously.”
Volkswagen said it was, “Committed to working cooperatively with CARB and other regulators, and we plan to continue our discussions tomorrow when we meet with the EPA”.
The Volkswagen of CEO, Matthias Mueller – apologised repeatedly for the emissions scandal during his first US tour. However the tour has not gone as planned and has been criticised for comments he made during a radio interview, in which he denied that Volkswagen officials lied in evading emissions rules.
Connecticut attorney-general George Jepsen called Mueller’s comments disturbing.
“We now learn that the company’s newly appointed and most senior leader doesn’t believe Volkswagen lied, which is undisputable, and cannot say when it plans to deliver its solution to a problem that is affecting millions of Americans, which is unacceptable,”
Jepsen said.
“The time for empty apologies and hollow pledges of cooperation is over.”
Volkswagen expressed optimism that they will soon get approval for a plan to fix the vehicles. There is a separate deadline in order to fix 80 000 Porsche, Audi and Volkswagen vehicles with the bigger 3.0-litre TDI engines, due on 2 February.
Tennessee governor Bill Haslam, whose state is home to a Volkswagen plant, said on the sidelines of the Detroit motor show he’d met Mueller on Monday in Washington.
“We obviously have a keen interest in getting their legal issues solved,” he said, “so they can go back to selling cars.”
Source: IOL