EPA accuses Volkswagen of cheating emission control

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday accused Volkswagen of installing a software to evade authority's emission control in about half million cars sold since 2008.

The software installed by Volkswagen in its cars has violated the Clean Air Act, said the EPA in a statement.

The software called "defeat device" by the EPA can turn on full emission controls only when the car is undergoing emission tests to make the car meet the legal emission standards, but during normal driving, the car will emit nitrogen oxides at up to 40 times the standard.

"Using a defeat device in cars to evade clean air standards is illegal and a threat to public health," said Cynthia Giles, EPA's assistant administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.

The allegations cover roughly 482,000 diesel passenger cars sold in the United States by Volkswagen AG, Audi AG, and Volkswagen Group of America since 2008. The models include Jetta, Beetle, Golf, Passat and Audi A3.

Owners of cars of these models and years do not need to take any action at this time, said the EPA, as the violation does not present a safety hazard and the cars remain legal to drive and resell.

Volkswagen may have to recall those cars in the future as the EPA said "it is incumbent upon Volkswagen to initiate the process that will fix the cars' emissions systems."

The EPA also said "Volkswagen may be liable for civil penalties", which means the German car maker could face penalties of up to 37,500 U.S. dollars per vehicle, the maximum fine for violating the Clean Air Act, or a total of more than 18 billion dollars.

Volkswagen issued a statement saying the company was cooperating with the investigation but unable to comment further at this time.

The investigation has been done by the EPA and the California Air Resources Board. Enditem