Volkswagen next year will begin recalling vehicles involved in the emissions cheating scandal, but the recall will not pertain to vehicles in the United States.
German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemine Zeitung reported Tuesday new CEO Matthias Muller said the company plans to begin the recall in January 2016. About 9.5 million vehicles around the world are estimated to have so-called “defeat devices” installed on them.
The “defeat devices” are about 100 million lines of software code that allowed the vehicles to cheat emissions tests. The software could detect when it was tested and reduce emissions, but when it was driving under normal conditions, the “clean diesel” vehicles would emit up to 40 times more nitrogen oxide than legally allowed.
Jeaninne Ginivan, senior manager of corporate and internal communications for Volkswagen in the U.S., said the recall effort discussed by Muller does not affect American customers.
“This does not pertain to the U.S. market,” she said in an email. “In the U.S., we will work with the EPA and CARB (California Air Resources Board) to bring a remedy to the U.S. We do not have a timeline for this process.”
Ginivan declined further comment on the recall efforts.
In the interview with Allgmeine Zeitung, Muller said the company is working with German authorities for an action plan on the recall. The recall will start in January and last throughout 2016, he said.
Last month, the EPA announced it was investigating Volkswagen for using the defeat devices.
It’s been a catastrophic few weeks for VW since the announcement, with its stock price plummeting and the resignation of the company’s CEO, Martin Winterkorn, coming in the week following the scandal.
The scam may affect up to 482,000 vehicles in the United States alone and about 11 million vehicles worldwide. The EPA may be able to levy a fine of $18 billion against the company for the violations in the United States.
The company is under the congressional microscope as well. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce is holding a hearing on Thursday about the scandal in which VW’s top man in the United States will testify, and the Senate Finance Committee announced Tuesday it is investigating whether Volkswagen willfully lied in order to qualify for tax credits.
