Volkswagen Group announced the recall of 3.23 lakh vehicles in India last December as an aftermath of diesel gate that was widely regarded as the biggest cheating scandal ever to come across the automobile history. The ‘defeat device’ software fitted 1.2, 1.5, 1.6 and 2.0-litre EA189 diesel engines manufactured and retailed between 2008 and November 2015 are involved in the process. The emission cheat scandal surfaced in September when VW admitted to have manipulated U.S. mandatory tests by EPA (Environmental Protection Agency).
The call back was split into 1,98,500 units of Volkswagen cars, 88,700 Skoda and 36,500 Audi vehicles. The EA189 diesel engines emitted nitrogen oxide of up to 40 times under normal running condition while the emission is manipulated to standard norms with the cheating software when emission tested. The 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre capacity units with technical fixes were handed over to the KBA authority in Germany at the end of November 2015. The German manufacturer employed a new flow transformer to calm air flow around the air mass sensor will be fitted for the EA189 1.6-litre diesel engine.
The sensor calculates air mass and helps to regulate the internal combustion cycle. A software update will be additionally applied to consider bringing down the emissions produced by the vehicle. The technical fix was estimated to consume only less than two hours. The EA189 2.0-litre diesel engines received a software update which should take less than 30 minutes. All Indian customers will be informed of the technical fix and appointments can be placed.
AutocarPro has reported that Audi will have a software upgrade programme in the pipeline and the cars will be fixed free of cost through a service camp. The recall is part of 2.1 million units of the four rings affected globally. The eventual software updates will not affect the power output and the fuel efficiency of the engine. Over eleven million vehicles around the world are affected by the scandal and, of which, only five million are from Volkswagen brand. Audi said earlier that 2.1 million of its vehicles are affected worldwide while Czech automaker Skoda revealed 1.2 million cars from its portfolio are subjected to the diesel gate.
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