ARAI tested 11Volkswagen Group cars with BSIV diesel engines and found that they produce 1.1-2.6 times higher emissions than applicable BSIV norms
Volkswagen was caught in 2015 for using cheat device in diesel engines as this had manipulated emission tests by changing performance of cars, which will vary output and help them pass the test. The investigation regarding this scandal has been going on for long and engineers behind have not been caught yet.
National Green Tribunal (NGT) asked Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) to test Volkswagen cars fitted with diesel engines to find out whether they used this same software in India also in 2015. ARAI tested 11 Volkswagen group cars with BSIV diesel engines and found out that they produce 1.1 to 2.6 times higher emissions than applicable BSIV norms.
VW decided to recall 3.23 lakh vehicles in India to fix the emission software and they submitted a detailed plan to NGT also. But the German manufacturer said that recall in India was purely voluntary as they didn’t face any charges like those in US and Europe. But VW has recalled only 64 percent of affected cars in India till now.
The rest 36 percent cars with cheating software is polluting the environment and NGT has asked Volkswagen to give reason for not recalling the entire cars. If they don’t solve the issue soon then VW might face penal action and this could be a big problem for them as they announced a massive investment in India for future.
The council of car manufacturers told NGT that redesigned software was approved for only 70 percent of cars by ARAI but they said that VW is yet submit new software for rest of 30 percent. NGT has already received several plea from people across the country to ban sales of Volkswagen cars in India due to emission scandal.
We are expecting Volkswagen to give an official reply to NGT soon. Globally, the total number of vehicles affected with diesel scandal is more than 11 million. In US, VW had to buy cars from customers and give back compensation. But emission scandal hasn’t affected sales of VW as they are posting strong growth in US, Europe and Asian countries.