Months after Volkswagen car test cheating scandal broke out, the Germany biggest carmaker today announces that it has come up with a plan to solve the problem. According to Volkswagen, its team of engineers have designed a catalytic converter that manage to reduce the carbon emission of its involved car.
According to Volkswagen, the catalytic converter can be easily installed in all 430,000 cars found to be using the cheat device. Reuters reported that the converter has been re-made by the Volkswagen team to ensure it could be fitted in its first generation of the EA 189 diesel engine.
The new proposal by Volkswagen comes after the company struggle to reach a term with the US authorities regarding the fix for the cars. Details provided by Financial Times reveal that the new proposal will also include the carmaker to update its software to remove the cheat device.
Although the Europe has agreed for the software update alone, the United States, on the other hand, require the company to do more than that as the country enforce a stricter emission control.
People familiar with the matter also told reporters that to install the converter, Volkswagen will also need to install a tank of urea to help break down nitrogen oxides emitted by the car. However, the new proposal is yet to be approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency but the agency is expected to finish reviewing the new plan by this week.
Further details regarding the plan were not revealed to the public yet as the company spokesperson told reporters that "We've discussed several ideas with the authorities. During last week and for the following week we'll have discussions with the authorities about the next steps [and] we hope to come closer to an agreement with them."
The Verge reported that Volkswagen CEO, Matthias Müller is expected to meet with the EPA administrator Gina McCarthy for the time this week to further discuss regarding the new solution proposed. Previously, the EPA had pushed the deadline for the carmaker to come out with a new solution as the company had requested for a longer time to come up with a new proposal.
The outcome for the meeting will determine the fate of the company. Volkswagen is hoping that the new proposal will be accepted by the EPA or else the company would have to recall more than 100,000 of affected vehicles as proposed by the Department of Justice Law. Cars recall would put the company in a $48 billion in the total loss.
Join the Conversation