Volkswagen overestimated the fuel economy of 98,000 US vehicles and will reimburse consumers

WASHINGTON: Volkswagen AG has to give up greenhouse gas emission credits and lower fuel consumption ratings for 98,000 vehicles after the US Environmental Protection Agency said that automotive software overestimated actual performance.

Volkswagen announced Friday that it has agreed to a $ 96.5 million settlement, without penalty, to reimburse the affected customers.

The software used about 1 million Audi, Bentley, Porsche and Volkswagen vehicles in the 2013-2017 model year, the agency said. This caused the transmission to change gears in such a way as to sometimes optimize fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions during the emission test prescribed by the EPA, but not under normal driving conditions. said the agency.

The versions of the Audi A8, the Bentley Continental GT, the Porsche Cayenne and the VW Touareg are among the lowest rated vehicles. The regulation does not cover all five model years.

The EPA said Volkswagen has determined that the software reduces fuel economy by nearly 98,000 vehicles by about 1 mile per gallon.

The problem was discovered in an investigation by the EPA and the California Air Resources Board into excessive diesel emissions in hundreds of thousands of US vehicles.

The German manufacturer admitted to using illegal software to deceive the pollution tests in the United States in 2015, which provoked a brutal reaction against diesel vehicles, which cost him up to 30 billion euros ($ 33 ​​billion) in fines, penalties and surrender costs. In May, it generated an additional 5.5 billion euros in contingent liabilities.

The EPA said Volkswagen underestimated greenhouse gas emissions by about 220,000 tonnes and would forego EPA credits and credits from the federal medium-fuel economy program. The exact amount of credits will be subject to approval by the EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The show reduced fuel savings by about 3.5 percent on impacted vehicles, VW added, adding that customers would receive payments ranging from $ 5.40 to $ 24.30 for each rental month. or rental of the vehicle.

"Volkswagen is committed to providing our customers with transparent fuel economy data for our vehicles, in line with the US labeling requirements," said VW spokesperson Pietro Zollino.

The company added that the regulation "removes the uncertainty associated with protracted litigation and does not include any admission of responsibility or wrongdoing on the part of Volkswagen".

(Report by David Shepardson, edited by Chizu Nomiyama and Richard Chang)