According to a media report, the Volkswagen Group has apparently also manipulated the automatic circuits of its vehicles on a larger scale in order to keep the exhaust and fuel consumption levels on the test bench artificially low. The reports the "Handelsblatt" citing statements of defendants in the diesel scandal against the prosecutor's offices in Brunswick and Munich and internal documents of the company. Among the statements is that of a leading VW engineer.
Accordingly, in the US as well as in Europe, petrol and diesel vehicles with dual-clutch transmissions contained a function that controlled the shifting behavior on the test bench so that less CO2 and nitrogen oxides were emitted than on the road. In addition, the vehicles on the test bench are said to have consumed less fuel.
Gasoline engines switch on earlier, diesel later
According to the report, the automatic gearboxes of the gasoline engines switched unnaturally early to drive the car as low as possible. In the case of diesel, high speeds in small gears meant that exhaust gas purification in the catalytic converter could be started earlier.
According to "Handelsblatt" affected numerous models of the Group, including Tiguan, Passat and Touareg, but also Audi models. VW, however, emphasized that the diesel vehicles were only the Audi A7 and A8. It was also only a technical "non-conformity", not an inadmissible shutdown acted. For both models, however, the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt had a mandatory recall in 2017.
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In the gasoline models, the Federal Ministry of Transport confirmed CO2 deviations, but the KBA had "no abnormalities regarding the use of improper strategies" found. VW paid a total of $ 100 million to vehicle owners in August for such switching tricks on US gasoline models. However, the rating and regulatory issues are not comparable with those in Europe and Germany, according to the Group.
