A House subcommittee will hold a hearing soon to discuss charges that Volkswagen schemed to fool federal regulators when it came to measuring emissions on their “clean diesel” vehicles.
House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee chairman Tim Murphy, R-Penn., announced Monday afternoon the hearing would come in the coming weeks.
Volkswagen was charged Friday with installing devices on its diesel cars that could tell when the vehicles were undergoing emissions tests. During the tests, the vehicles would emit far less nitrogen oxides than they did when they were being driven normally.
“We will follow the facts. We are also concerned that auto consumers may have been deceived — that what they were purchasing did not come as advertised,” Upton and Murphy said in a joint statement. “The American people deserve answers and assurances that this will not happen again. We intend to get those answers.”
An exact date for the hearing has not been set and witnesses who will testify have not been announced.
About 482,000 vehicles made between 2009 and 2015 could be in violation of emissions standards. Among them are the popular Volkswagen models the Jetta, the Passat, Beetle, Golf and Audi’s A3, part of Volkswagen’s line of luxury vehicles.
The maximum fine for using the so-called “defeat device” is $37,000 per vehicle, meaning Volkswagen could be facing a maximum total fine of $18 billion.
The news of the investigation and subsequent allegations hit Volkswagen hard this weekend, and the company’s CEO offered a formal apology. On Monday, the company’s stock dropped more than 18.5 percent, more than 30 points, during the first full day of trading since the announcement.
The EPA and California’s Air Resources Board are each doing their own investigations into the supposed cheating on emissions tests. Those investigations remain open.
House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee chairman Tim Murphy, R-Penn., announced Monday afternoon the hearing would come in the coming weeks.
Volkswagen was charged Friday with installing devices on its diesel cars that could tell when the vehicles were undergoing emissions tests. During the tests, the vehicles would emit far less nitrogen oxides than they did when they were being driven normally.
“We will follow the facts. We are also concerned that auto consumers may have been deceived — that what they were purchasing did not come as advertised,” Upton and Murphy said in a joint statement. “The American people deserve answers and assurances that this will not happen again. We intend to get those answers.”
An exact date for the hearing has not been set and witnesses who will testify have not been announced.
About 482,000 vehicles made between 2009 and 2015 could be in violation of emissions standards. Among them are the popular Volkswagen models the Jetta, the Passat, Beetle, Golf and Audi’s A3, part of Volkswagen’s line of luxury vehicles.
The maximum fine for using the so-called “defeat device” is $37,000 per vehicle, meaning Volkswagen could be facing a maximum total fine of $18 billion.
The news of the investigation and subsequent allegations hit Volkswagen hard this weekend, and the company’s CEO offered a formal apology. On Monday, the company’s stock dropped more than 18.5 percent, more than 30 points, during the first full day of trading since the announcement.
The EPA and California’s Air Resources Board are each doing their own investigations into the supposed cheating on emissions tests. Those investigations remain open.
