The scandal of emission test cheating did a great deal of loss to Volkswagen in US and Europe and now the company has been found guilty in yet another emission test scandal in India. As measure to ensure that the company was following the Indian BSIV norms the Government of India ordered a probe against Volkswagen to check the emission levels of their cars meet the said norms. In the tests by executed by ARAI (Automotive Research Association of India) they found that the EA 189 diesel engines were fitted with a “defect device” that helped to manipulate the excess level of nitrogen oxide emission in the on-road vehicles. The same EA 189 engines are used in different models by several other brands like Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda. The EA 189 engine include engines from various capacities like, 1.2-litre, 1.5-litre, 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre diesel engines.
In-order to fix the issue Volkswagen will have to about 3.23 lakh vehicles of various brands. This decision came soon after a meeting held between officials in the ministry of heavy industries with Volkswagen representatives. Talking about the meeting Ambuj Sharma, Additional secretary in the ministry of heavy industries said , “Volkswagen has agreed to recall all the vehicles fitted with the faulty engine to fix and rectify the system so that it does not suffer from the emission issue,”. He further added, “They will start the recall immediately, may be within this month…they will start with different engines, different models, different time schedules,”. While talking about if there will be any action against Volkswagen he said, “We are asking MoRTH (ministry of road transport and highways) to do it, because under the Motor Vehicles Act and Rules there is a set procedure for that. That action will now be taken by MoRTH,”
Prior to staring the recall process Volkswagen Group India will first present its technical released solution to ministry of heavy industries and the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), and once the solution is approved from the competent authorities, the respective brands of the Volkswagen Group in India will carry out the recall process in a phased manner.
The total number of cars affected by the recall include 1,98,500 VW cars like the Polo and Vento, 88,700 Skoda cars like the Rapid, Octavia and Superb and 36,500 Audis including the A3 and A4. None of the petrol engine cars will be affected due to this recall.
To make sure that other automobile manufacturers are following the set guidelines Government of India has decided to test all vehicles of all manufactures for similar manipulations.
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Also see: Volkswagen fined USD 18,075,000,000 for cheating on EPA Diesel Laws
