Volkswagen will need to issue a physical hardware fix for 3 million vehicles affected in the emissions cheating scandal the German automaker found itself in after admitting to installing cheat devices in 11 million vehicles worldwide.
The company's U.K. CEO Paul Willis says the affected diesel vehicles are those equipped with a 1.6-liter engine, which require mechanical tweaks in order to eliminate the cheat device. Specifically, the vehicles will need to be fitted with new fuel injectors to make them comply with the European Union's emissions standards. Bigger 2.0-liter engines and smaller 1.2-liter engines will only require a software fix.
However, 1.6-liter vehicles in the U.S. may need even more changes, according to Willis, since American emissions standards are more stringent than those in Europe. The Volkswagen official said U.S. vehicles may need physical adjustments to the catalytic converters or the Selective Catalytic Reduction AdBlue urea injection systems to pass the stricter standards in the U.S. A company spokesperson also confirmed the news to Bloomberg.
Speaking before a panel of lawmakers Thursday, Volkswagen U.S. CEO Michael Horn said whatever physical fixes that will be done to the vehicles will very likely affect the performance of the cars. Horn said the automaker is currently looking into compensating customers for their troubles, although Willis declined to comment when asked to provide information on whether customers in the U.K. will receive compensation.
Volkswagen initially set aside 6.5 billion euros, or approximately $7.4 billion, to shoulder the cost of repairing the damage the scandal has done. However, Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller, who stepped in after then Chief Executive Officer Martin Winterkorn was forced to resign, admitted on Monday that the company may have to shell out more than the initial amount it set aside.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Volkswagen may have to pay up to $37,500 in fines for each vehicle outfitted with the cheat device. This amounts to $18 billion all in all in potential fines, not to mention other expenses of paying for legal services and reestablishing consumer trust.
Volkswagen says it will be issuing recalls for the millions of affected vehicles around the world throughout the entire 2016 and very possibly well into 2017. In the U.S., where around 500,000 vehicles by various Volkswagen brands are affected, Horn said it will take "one to two years minimum" to fix the affected vehicles, and perhaps several more to repair its broken reputation.
