Exhaust scandal

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"Golf TDI Clean Diesel" at the Washington Auto Show in 2010

The diesel or exhaust scandal (also Dieselgate ) is the combination of a series of mostly illegal manipulations by various car manufacturers to circumvent the legally prescribed limit values for car exhaust and - in return - the political influence to protect them. Defeat devices were banned in this form on January 15, 2013 with an EU regulation.

On September 18, 2015, it was publicly announced that Volkswagen AG was using an illegal defeat device in the engine management of its diesel vehicles; the US emissions standards were only met in a special test bench mode, whereas in normal operation a large part of the exhaust gas cleaning system is largely switched off. The discovery was initiated by a Notice of Violation by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). According to Volkswagen AG, the software in question is used in around eleven million vehicles with the VW EA189 engine series worldwide . In the EU and the USA, the successor series VW EA288 is also affected. According to Reuters news agency , however, the software has been adapted for four different types of engines.

VW had previously advertised this generation of vehicles in large advertising campaigns as particularly clean "clean diesels" in order to promote sales and increase the market share of diesel cars in the USA.

According to the German Federal Ministry of Transport, this also affects cars registered in Europe and, according to a second Notice of Violation by the EPA from early November 2015, vehicles from Audi and Porsche . As a result of the scandal , the Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, Martin Winterkorn , resigned; the supervisory board appointed the previous CEO of Porsche AG, Matthias Müller , as his successor.

The original VW emissions scandal triggered a far-reaching crisis in the automotive industry . Many studies found deviations between real and test bench emissions in models from German and other manufacturers. The problem of excessive nitrogen oxide levels in diesel vehicles and their health consequences gained much public attention as a result of the VW diesel affair. Exceeding test bench limit values ​​in real operation was and is not illegal in Europe; only since the WLTP came into effect has an upper limit of 2.1 times the old test bench limit value applied to its near-real-life cycle; there was and is no limit value for real operation in Europe. It has been proven that the manufacturers ordered the measures or knew about them many years before the scandal became known. Political and scientific bodies, government agencies and interest groups had also pointed out irregularities years before they became known and warned of their consequences.

On August 2, 2017, the National Diesel Forum (also known as the Diesel Summit ) took place, at which the German government and German automobile manufacturers reached agreements on reducing emissions.

The emissions scandal also led to a turnaround in traffic being discussed and called for in the political discussion.

To the prehistory

Technical history

Internal combustion engines for automobiles have been around since the late 19th century, but the problem of automobile air pollution did not become public awareness until the mass motorization of the 1950s, based on the situation in the city of Los Angeles. In 1959, California established standards for air quality, from which emission limits for motor vehicles were developed that were to be complied with from 1966 onwards. In 1968 a law to restrict exhaust emissions finally came into force. In the Federal Republic of Germany, exhaust gas limits were introduced in 1971 for passenger cars with gasoline engines. The limit values ​​were continuously tightened, which had a major impact on the development of internal combustion engine technology. The first modern exhaust gas aftertreatment system by today's standards was only introduced for passenger cars in 1981 in the form of the three-way catalytic converter, which came onto the market in 1973, although it would be another 10 years before the system became part of the basic equipment of passenger cars. For a long time, poor exhaust gas behavior was avoided primarily for other reasons, for example, with diesel engines, attempts were made to achieve smoke-free combustion in order to improve service life or to avoid endangering traffic safety through blackening of the air.

In principle, the exhaust gas behavior of a diesel engine is superior to that of a gasoline engine in every respect because the raw exhaust gas contains less carbon dioxide, fewer hydrocarbons, less carbon monoxide and fewer nitrogen oxides; Compared to the exhaust gases of a gasoline engine, the exhaust gas of a diesel engine (in relation to the exhaust gas mass) contains only about a tenth of the pollutants and a third of the carbon dioxide. In return, the exhaust gas mass is more than twice as high as that of a gasoline engine. Outdated chamber diesel engines only emit about half as much nitrogen oxide under full load as a comparable gasoline engine. Since conventional Otto engines are operated with a stoichiometric mixture, unlike diesel engines, they work together with the three-way catalytic converter, whereby hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides are converted into water, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. If too many nitrogen oxides are generated during combustion in a gasoline engine, for example due to lean operation that is lean than stoichiometric, a NO x storage catalytic converter must be used instead. However, the first gasoline engines with an overstoichiometric mixture, which appeared at the end of the 1990s, had such poor exhaust gas behavior (especially strong hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions), despite the use of an exhaust gas cleaning system that was complex for the time, that a market launch in markets with then strict exhaust gas regulations ( Europe and the USA).

Diesel engines for passenger cars have had an uncontrolled oxidation catalytic converter since the early 1990s because the three-way catalytic converter in diesel engines did not work. This converts nitrogen monoxide into nitrogen dioxide, reduces HC and CO emissions and lowers particle emissions. At the beginning of the 21st century, the passenger car diesel engine came under fire primarily because of its soot emissions. The German automotive industry was of the opinion that only internal engine measures would reduce soot emissions, but the soot particle filter for diesel engines was ultimately introduced across the board. However, modern gasoline engines with direct gasoline injection must also be equipped with a soot particle filter because of their soot emissions. With the introduction of stricter exhaust gas limit values, especially for nitrogen oxides, a better exhaust gas cleaning system became indispensable for gasoline engines. In diesel vehicles, attempts have been made to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by means of internal engine measures (low combustion temperature) and to compensate for the resulting higher soot particle emissions with a soot particle filter, but this process increasingly no longer satisfied the stricter exhaust gas limits, so that post-engine processes such as storage catalytic converters and selective catalytic reduction became necessary. The latter system has been used for a long time for commercial vehicle engines. The optimization of the exhaust gas behavior was optimized up to around 2015, especially for passenger car diesel engines, on roller dynamometer test cycles such as WLTP, US06 and FTP75, which was and is not illegal. This optimization to standardized test cycles resulted in far higher pollutant emissions in real driving than in the calculation model and in the test cycle; Manufacturers such as Volkswagen ultimately used software that recognizes whether an automobile is driving in the test cycle and accordingly illegally adjusts the emission control system specifically to the requirements of the test cycle, a special test cycle mode that is switched off again for normal operation. Today (2018) attempts are being made to no longer optimize the emission behavior based on test cycles, but to improve it in actual driving operation (RDE).

Procedure at VW

In 2005, Volkswagen planned to acquire the rights to the BlueTec emission control system from the Daimler-Chrysler group, but the decision was then made to develop its own system.

From the 2009 model year, the Volkswagen Group began converting its turbo- diesel engines ( TDI ) designed for passenger cars from the pump-nozzle system to common-rail fuel injection. This technology allows more precise fuel injection, since injection pressure generation and injection times, unlike in the pump-nozzle system, are decoupled from one another and are not dependent on the injection cam position. With the accumulator injection, a better noise and exhaust gas behavior is possible with simultaneously reduced fuel consumption and higher specific power.

With the introduction of diesel particulate filters and, on some models, SCR catalytic converters , VW advertised the engines in the USA as 'cleaner than clean', while at the same time achieving good fuel consumption values.

In fact, the engines were not able to combine low fuel consumption with regulatory nitrogen oxide emissions. Around 2006, Volkswagen decided to program the control unit of the VW EA189 engine in such a way that the standard operating mode with high engine output and high efficiency, but also high nitrogen oxide emissions, is always switched to a mode with low nitrogen oxide emissions as soon as an emissions test is detected. This means that Volkswagen had a cut-off device (Engl. Defeat device) realized. In 2015, Der Spiegel reported that at least 30 executives had known about this approach for years, while Volkswagen itself still denied this in 2015.

Willful manipulation

Main entrance to research and development in Wolfsburg

According to its own information, the Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) warned from September 2007 (on the occasion of the IAA) to 2015 "in countless press conferences, technical discussions, with publications, emissions tests and campaigns against ... violations of health and climate protection with regard to exhaust emissions and fuel consumption".

Further indications of manipulation at Volkswagen were sent to the ICCT by Peter Mock , Director of the European branch of the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). ICCT employees in Berlin, including the former department head of the Federal Environment Agency, Axel Friedrich , had noticed high emissions. In the USA, in May 2014, the ICCT, in cooperation with West Virginia University (WVU), determined large differences in nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel vehicles of the VW Group in exhaust gas measurements . The vehicles met the requirements of the EPA under test conditions on a test bench run by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Under real driving conditions determined employees of WU with a transportable measuring system (PEMS) when VW Jetta VI nitric oxide levels 15- to 35-fold and at the VW Passat 5- to 20-fold above the legal limit US.

In September 2014, Der Spiegel published the results of this study and, with reference to the ICCT, pointed out that modern engine control systems “can recognize when the car is on a roller dynamometer and then switch to an optimized test mode” and that “German car companies in particular the official thirst for petrol ”of their vehicles would“ nice ”. The Handelsblatt reported in October 2014 with reference to the same study that everyone had known for "a year".

Volkswagen claimed to the US authorities that the discrepancies found, in particular those of the nitrogen oxide values, were based on a software error and in December 2014 called back the almost 500,000 affected vehicles in order to install new software. The CARB checked the modified vehicles under real conditions and could not find any improvement in the nitrogen oxide values. When the authorities threatened to refuse the registration of the 2016 models if the discrepancy was not clarified , Volkswagen admitted the fraud on September 3, 2015.

According to Wirtschaftswoche , a manager of an automotive supplier informed then EU Commissioner Antonio Tajani in mid-2012 that car manufacturers would electronically manipulate the emission values ​​of vehicles in approval tests . This undermines the EU's efforts to make road transport more environmentally and climate friendly. At a meeting in July 2012 at which the topic was discussed, a total of four members of the EU Commission were present. Thereupon Tajani wrote to the transport ministers of the EU states to improve the monitoring of the car industry; but he did not indicate that emissions tests could have been tampered with.

The exhaust gas measurement for new vehicle models of the VW Group in Europe is (as of 2015) the responsibility of the following test organizations:

Preliminary investigation

United States

On September 18, 2015, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent a Notice of Violation to the Volkswagen Group of America , with an exact explanation of the legal allegations with regard to the violations of the Clean Air Act . As a result of this proceeding, Volkswagen faces fines of up to US $ 18 billion. According to media reports, the US Department of Justice and the New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman have launched investigations against Volkswagen. Schneiderman should seek to work with the attorneys general of all states in the United States. Meanwhile, Volkswagen is also facing class action lawsuits from private buyers and car dealers in Canada and the United States.

On October 14, 2015, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) joined the investigation by the EPA and the US Department of Justice. This involves investigations into misleading advertising campaigns ( clean diesel ) by Volkswagen for the diesel vehicles concerned.

After expanding its investigations, the EPA issued a second Notice of Violation to Volkswagen on November 2, 2015 . Accordingly, defeat devices have now also been found in diesel vehicles with three-liter engines (3.0 TDI) . The VW Touareg (model year 2014), the latest Audi models A6 Quattro , A7 Quattro , A8, A8L and Q5 as well as the Porsche Cayenne (model year 2015) are specifically affected .

The Federal Agency for Road and Vehicle Safety (NHTSA) told Wirtschaftswoche that independent experts were checking whether the VW Group had concealed not only the emissions scandal but also safety problems and technical defects.

As part of a settlement in spring 2017, Volkswagen pleaded guilty as a company to the conspiracy to fraud, obstruction of justice and the sale of goods under false pretenses in order to bring the criminal investigation to a close. Volkswagen pays 2.8 billion US dollars for this, has committed itself to stronger control systems and subjects itself to three-year external supervision. In addition, VW has committed itself to investing a total of 2 billion US dollars in the expansion of a charging station network with its specially founded company Electrify America .

The German citizen James Robert Liang was the first VW employee to be prosecuted in June 2016 and in August 2017 for his role in the scandal in which he worked as an engine developer at VW in Wolfsburg in 2006 and in California from 2008 onwards for 3 years and 4 Months imprisonment and a fine. The court found it proven that he had concealed the use of fraudulent software in 600,000 VW vehicles from US regulators.

With Oliver Schmidt was in January 2017, another VW employees in Florida arrested. Overall, the US authorities investigated six VW employees, some of whom were former employees, of conspiracy to commit fraud and violate environmental laws, including those who had already been arrested. An international arrest warrant was issued against the remaining five in June 2017 . Oliver Schmidt was sentenced to seven years in prison by a Detroit judge on December 6, 2017 for conspiracy to commit fraud and violate environmental laws. Schmidt also has to pay fines of $ 400,000.

Also in 2017, Robert Bosch GmbH paid EUR 304 million to US civil plaintiffs in a settlement.

In August 2020, Daimler AG agreed on settlements with US class action plaintiffs and the authorities. For this, the group wants to raise a total of more than 2 billion US dollars.

Germany

The German transport minister Alexander Dobrindt called for a review of all VW vehicle models in Germany.

Initially it was said that the public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig had initiated an investigation against the former CEO Martin Winterkorn ex officio and on the basis of several criminal complaints from citizens because of allegations of fraud under Section 263 of the Criminal Code. A few days later, on October 1, 2015, it was reported that, contrary to previous reports, no investigative proceedings had been initiated against Winterkorn and that there was no initial suspicion against him. The original press release from the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office on Monday, September 28, 2015, has been deleted and replaced by a new one.

On October 8, 2015, the Braunschweig public prosecutor and the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office carried out house searches in the Volkswagen offices in Wolfsburg and other places . The declared aim of the search was "to secure documents and data carriers that can provide information on the exact procedure of the company employees involved in the manipulation of the emissions values ​​of diesel vehicles and their identity with a view to possible criminal offenses".

On November 24, 2015, the Braunschweig public prosecutor initiated another investigation against five employees of the Volkswagen Group known by name on suspicion of tax evasion. The reason for this is the announcement by Volkswagen that it had manipulated CO 2 and fuel consumption values ​​of vehicles, which is why the vehicle owners received incorrect vehicle tax assessments due to the incorrect information .

The investigations of the public prosecutor's office were extended to suspicion of market manipulation in June 2016 as a result of a criminal complaint by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority . The allegation is that Volkswagen did not comply with its ad hoc disclosure requirement to publish price-sensitive information in good time.

On January 27, 2017 it became known that 37 people are now being investigated. For this purpose, 28 house searches were carried out. In addition to the allegations mentioned, the investigations also include suspicion of criminal advertising ( Section 16 UWG). The former CEO Martin Winterkorn is now among the accused.

In 2019/2020, the Munich II public prosecutor brought charges against former Audi boss Rupert Stadler and other former officials of the Ingolstadt-based car maker. The purpose of the proceedings is to clarify to what extent the former Audi employees were involved in the development of defeat devices and the knowledgeable sale of manipulated vehicles.

France

On October 2, 2015, it was reported that the French judiciary had opened an investigation against Volkswagen on suspicion of fraud. Around 950,000 diesel vehicles are affected in France. Their results report was presented in August 2016. In the ten-month investigation, an independent commission found deviations in pollutant emissions in 86 vehicle models from different manufacturers. Renault was also affected with the Talisman and Espace models . Although the Commission expressly did not come to a judgment on the use of defeat devices, Environment Minister Ségolène Royal announced that she would demand transparency and responsibility from car manufacturers.

On behalf of the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office, gendarmes from the Office central de lutte contre les atteintes à l'environnement et à la santé publique (Oclaesp) of the Gendarmerie nationale on October 16, 2015, the headquarters of Volkswagen France in Villers-Cotterêts and offices in Roissy- en-France searched.

In September 2017, Le Monde reported that Groupe PSA (Citroën, DS, Opel, Peugeot and Vauxhall) could face a fine of up to 5 billion euros. On September 8, 2017, PSA denied the allegations.

Italy

On October 15, 2015, the Verona public prosecutor's office and the Guardia di Finanza searched the headquarters of Volkswagen Group Italia SpA in Verona and the VW subsidiary Lamborghini in Sant'Agata Bolognese on suspicion of trade fraud. The investigations are also directed against the VW manager Massimo Nordio and against Luca De Meo, board member of Audi AG and responsible for the sales and marketing division.

Spain

The Audiencia Nacional (national State Court) based in Madrid has launched on October 28, 2015 by Judge Ismael Moreno a criminal investigation for fraud by misleading advertising, subsidy fraud and crimes against the environment against the Volkswagen Group. By November 10, 2015 [obsolete] , the VW Group is to name a representative against whom the allegations could be made.

Belgium

The public prosecutor's office in Brussels (Parquet de Bruxelles) has been investigating the Volkswagen Group for forgery since November 4, 2015 . The Flemish Ministry of the Environment sees itself as a victim in the emissions scandal.

Type of manipulation

The tank filler neck for the urea solution (
AdBlue ) on an Audi Q3 2.0 TDI (2014)
Principle of nitrogen oxide reduction through urea injection

Regardless of the engine type, several manufacturers u. a. VW and Peugeot, many non-technical measures taken on vehicles on the test benches, which lead to deviations between the consumption in test and real operation. The test vehicles had z. B. a fully charged battery, a half-worn set of tires, no extra equipment and usually no air conditioning. All of these measures were legal under the test regime at the time. In October 2016, Volkswagen announced that it would in future refrain from “continuing to make extensive use of possible tolerances”. The waiver leads to an increase in the kilometer- related CO 2 emissions of up to 2 g. Critics put the effectiveness of the waiver into perspective, since a new test procedure will apply from 2017 that prohibits such measures.

Tampering with diesel vehicles

According to a publication by the EPA, the software installed by VW, which is responsible for the emissions control system, recognizes the test situation. The standardized test situations can be recognized by "unnatural driving behavior" (high wheel speeds without moving the vehicle). Under these conditions, the exhaust gas processing is optimized so that as little nitrogen oxide (NO x ) as possible is produced. In contrast, during normal driving, parts of the emission control system are put out of operation, which is why the NO x emissions are then considerably higher.

On September 27, 2015, Bild am Sonntag reported that the automotive supplier Bosch had delivered the controversial software to VW for testing purposes, but in 2007 it also clearly stated that the use of the software was illegal.

  • In the Passat , with the software of the control unit " Electronic Diesel Control 17" from the supplier Bosch, the consumption of urea solution ( AdBlue , in the USA called Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) or generally AUS 32 ) for the exhaust gas aftertreatment SCRT in the Bluetec TDI -Motors are changed. In a lecture on the 32C3 , the hacker Felix Domke presented an analysis of the firmware installed by VW on a Bosch EDC17C46 control unit . In the A2L files, the disconnection device was commented on with "Lower kilometer threshold for deactivating the acoustic function". The firmware evaluates, among other things, whether the distance traveled is moving within a narrow interval around the values ​​specified by the test cycle. As soon as this interval is left, the software switches to an alternative mode with significantly reduced AdBlue consumption.
  • The US model Jetta , on the other hand, uses an NO x storage catalytic converter in which the nitrogen oxides are deposited on the surface. The storage catalytic converter can only store NO x in a temperature range of 250 to 500 ° C. If the catalytic converter is fully occupied, it is regenerated while driving using carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons as a reducing agent. Since these substances do not normally occur in the exhaust gas of diesel engines, or only in very small quantities, they have to be artificially generated through incomplete combustion, which is implemented through a lack of air (usually through multiple injection of diesel fuel into the combustion chamber). In the case of the manipulated vehicles, this regeneration took place only partially or not at all while driving.
  • During the review of all processes in the field of diesel engines, it became public that the CO 2 certification of diesel vehicles, especially from the year of construction 2012, was too low in CO 2 and thus also in consumption data. The types affected are VW Golf, VW Polo, VW Passat, Audi A1, Audi A3, Škoda Octavia, Seat Leon and Seat Ibiza. Diesel fuel was also mixed into the engine oil prior to test bench measurements so that the engine consumed less fuel during the measurement.

Cut-off devices have also been built into the control of diesel engines in models from other manufacturers. In May 2017 it became known that the legally stipulated duration of the test cycle of 20 minutes had been used for the Fiat 500X . After 22 minutes, a programmed shutdown device switches off the filter systems.

In October 2015, the Federal Environment Agency published a comment on the manual for emission factors in road traffic (HBEFA), according to which diesel vehicles in the Euro 5 category exceed the applicable limit value of 180 mg / km NO x by a factor of 4 to 5.

Manipulation of vehicles with gasoline engines

According to VW statements from the beginning of November 2015, the technical manipulation of the determination of the carbon dioxide values ​​also affects models with the 1.4 TSI ACT gasoline engine, which is equipped with cylinder deactivation. This affects around 98,000 vehicles in Germany (50,000 in Spain). According to information from Bild am Sonntag , citing the confession of an engineer in the research and development department of the VW Group in Wolfsburg, he told his superior about the fraud with embellished consumption and CO 2 figures for Volkswagen models from model years 2013 to spring 2015 reported. The corporate auditing department also had confessions from other employees. According to this, the exhaust gas values ​​of the test vehicles are said to have been manipulated with unauthorized measures. a. by using a tire pressure of more than 3.5 bar, higher than permitted, so that the vehicle runs more easily. On November 13, 2015, it became known that a total of 24 models of model year 2016 with gasoline engines (TSI) were affected: Among them the 1.0-liter gasoline engines with 70 kW in the Seat Ibiza and VW Polo and with 85 kW in the Seat Leon and the 1.4-liter gasoline engine in the VW Jetta.

A court opinion published in August 2020 also suggests that gasoline engines from the Volkswagen Group could also be affected by the emissions scandal. According to this, a cycle detection was found in an Audi Q5 TFSI 2.0 from 2015 that manipulates the vehicle's emissions. The report was carried out as part of a lawsuit before the Offenburg Regional Court .

Porsche vehicles with gasoline engines may also have been manipulated illegally. The sports car manufacturer itself found during internal tests that the engines and engine software of several gasoline-powered Porsche models had been changed after they were approved by the Federal Motor Transport Authority. Porsche has shared this information with the Stuttgart public prosecutor and the authorities in Germany and the USA. The German Federal Motor Transport Authority started investigations into the matter in summer 2020.

Affected vehicles

VW Jetta 1.6 TDI
Passat NMS TDI Clean Diesel at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show
Audi A4 B8 sedan Ambiente 2.0 TDI
Clean diesel advertising tour of Volkswagen vehicles in Canada 2013

Vehicles with a VW EA189 diesel engine are affected . Worldwide there are 11 million vehicles from the Volkswagen , Audi , Seat and Škoda brands . VW managers and a US investigator told the Reuters news agency that a total of four engine types were affected, including the EA189 successor VW EA288 . Previously disputed by Volkswagen AG, a company spokesman admitted on October 22, 2015 that the EA288 was also affected in the USA. According to a ruling by the Duisburg Regional Court in 2018, the European Euro 6 version of the EA288 is also equipped with software that recognizes that the vehicle is on a test bench. With the help of the test stand detection, pollutant values ​​were suggested that were actually not achievable in everyday operation. While the Volkswagen group argued that the test stand recognition was legal, since there were no emission limit values ​​for real driving for the vehicle at issue (Golf VII 2.0 TDI), the judges ruled that Volkswagen had acted deliberately and immorally by using the test stand recognition. The Euro 5 versions of the EA288, however, should not contain any inadmissible defeat devices.

In 2017, the Federal Motor Transport Authority also discovered prohibited disconnection devices in the six-cylinder Euro 6 3.0 liter TDI engine ( VW EA897 ) a. was used in the Porsche Cayenne , VW Touareg and various Audi models.

Overview of the affected diesel vehicles worldwide
country Volkswagen Audi Škoda Seat commercial vehicles total
GermanyGermany Germany 1,537,896
(with VW commercial vehicles)
531.813 286.970 104.197 see VW 2,460,876
United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom 508.276 393,450 131,569 76,733 79,838 1,189,866
FranceFrance France 574.259 189,322 66,572 93,388 24,523 948.064
ItalyItaly Italy 385,694 231,729 35,343 39,598 17,348 709.712
SpainSpain Spain 257.479 147.095 37,082 221,783 20,187 683.626
United StatesUnited States United States 482,000 13,000 495,000
BelgiumBelgium Belgium 197,328 121,712 51,069 23,539 393,648
AustriaAustria Austria 180,500 72,500 54,300 31,700 24,400 363,000
SwedenSweden Sweden 104,000 57,000 28,000 2,000 33,000 225,000
IndiaIndia India 180,000
NetherlandsNetherlands Netherlands 160,000
Czech RepublicCzech Republic Czech Republic 38,000 7,000 101,000 1,800 147,800
NorwayNorway Norway 77,580 27,649 19,947 0 21,963 147.139
PolandPoland Poland 66,870 12,049 58,890 3,694 141.503
SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland around 180,000
Korea SouthSouth Korea South Korea 125,522
PortugalPortugal Portugal 102.140
(with Audi, Škoda)
15,000 117,000
IrelandIreland Ireland 47,316 29,169 16.004 5,039 9.224 106,752
RomaniaRomania Romania 105,000
CanadaCanada Canada 100,000
AustraliaAustralia Australia 61.189 16,085 5,148 0 17,256 99,678
DenmarkDenmark Denmark 91,000
FinlandFinland Finland 50,000
SlovakiaSlovakia Slovakia 14,809 3,278 26,000 2,577 46,664
ArgentinaArgentina Argentina 42,716
HungaryHungary Hungary 40,095
MexicoMexico Mexico 32,000
TaiwanRepublic of China (Taiwan) Taiwan 17,744
BrazilBrazil Brazil 17.057 17.057
GreeceGreece Greece 6,362 1,875 0 0 882 9.119
New ZealandNew Zealand New Zealand 4,639 1,600 1,328 0 133 7,700
China People's RepublicPeople's Republic of China People's Republic of China 1,950
Cyprus RepublicRepublic of Cyprus Cyprus 480 598 103 119 49 1,349
Worldwide 5,000,000 2,100,000 1,200,000 700,000 1,800,000 10,800,000
Overview of the affected vehicles with gasoline engines
country total
GermanyGermany Germany 98,000
SpainSpain Spain 50,000
Worldwide unknown

Callbacks

UK plan
Engine type Approval by the KBA Intentional start of the recall
EA189 2.0 liters January / February 2016 March 1, 2016
EA189 1.2 liters April / May 2016 June 1, 2016
EA189 1.6 liters July – September 2016 October 1, 2016

Asia

The Chinese regulatory agency General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) announced a recall by Volkswagen of 1,500 imported diesel vehicles, most of them the Tiguan.

Europe

In the EU, the EA189 engine with 1.2, 1.6 and 2.0 liter displacement was used from 2008 to 2015. The following series are affected:

Audi : A1 , A3 8P , A4 B8 , A5 , A6 C6 , A6 C7 , Q3 , Q5 , TT 8J

Škoda : Fabia II , Rapid , Roomster , Octavia II , Superb II , Yeti

Seat : Ibiza IV , Leon II , Toledo III , Toledo IV , Exeo , Altea / Altea XL , Alhambra II

Volkswagen : Polo V , Golf VI , Golf Plus , Jetta VI , Beetle , Passat B6 , Passat B7 , CC , Touran I , Sharan II , Tiguan , Scirocco , Amarok , Caddy , T5 , Eos

On October 21, 2015 VW stopped the sale of the new cars it claims to be affected in the EU .

Germany

According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) in Flensburg - Mürwik , a total of 12.94 million vehicles of all cars registered in Germany met the
Euro 5 emission standard on January 1, 2015 , including 5.79 million diesel vehicles.

The ADAC tested over the years a total of 79 different diesel vehicles for future measurement procedures of the United Nations (WLTP) and introduced compared to the current European Driving Cycle (NEDC) by EUR 6 (80 mg / km NO x ) differences between the two to the Fifteen times that of NO x .

A study by the State Institute for the Environment, Measurements and Nature Conservation Baden-Württemberg (LUBW), carried out in 2014, suggests deviations from other manufacturers as well. None of the tested vehicles from three manufacturers were able to comply with the Euro 6 limit values ​​outside of the test stand. According to the test report, the following vehicle models were involved:

A report by Auto Bild about the NO x emissions of the BMW X3 xDrive20d was misunderstood by many media. This report said the vehicle had massively exceeded the European emission standard Euro 6 in road tests by the ICCT. In a later clarification, Auto Bild emphasized that at no point had BMW assumed any intention of tampering, for example using shutdown software. Nevertheless, the BMW AG share price fell by more than 8% at times.

In June 2015, Daimler called 11,000 Mercedes Sprinters in Germany to the workshop for a software update because the vehicles “had to be provided with optimized software for the control units relevant to emissions”. This was initially associated with the emissions scandal, but a company spokesman emphasized that there was no connection and that no software was used to manipulate emissions values. Instead, an error occurred that prevented the testing devices from TÜV and Dekra from communicating with the vehicles' systems.

On September 27, 2015, it became known that Volkswagen is planning a recall campaign for all affected models in Germany; the illegal functions are to be removed from the control software.

Since October 2, 2015, the Volkswagen Group has set up an information platform for its Volkswagen and Audi car brands in Germany, which can be used to obtain information on whether a vehicle has been tampered with after specifying the vehicle identification number . Škoda has also provided an information platform since October 5, 2015; Seat followed on October 6th.

On October 8, 2015, it was announced that a technical solution for the models with a 1.6-liter engine could not be expected before September 2016, according to a time and action plan of the Volkswagen Group for the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). On October 22nd, a VW spokesman said that a software update for these engines was not enough and that engine technology had to be adapted. This affects three million vehicles. According to information from the dpa news agency , VW is therefore considering instead offering an exchange bonus for these models when buying new cars.

The Federal Motor Transport Authority announced on October 15, 2015 that it was an “inadmissible defeat device” and ordered the mandatory recall of 2.4 million diesel vehicles “in order to ensure that the vehicles in question were in compliance with the regulations”. The Volkswagen Group welcomed the KBA's decision, as it would allow all vehicles to be used without restrictions for the time being. From January 2016, the customer will be able to repair the vehicles free of charge.

A request from the German Press Agency to the interior ministries and federal state authorities revealed that around 8,000 police vehicles (emergency vehicles and civil vehicles) are affected by the emissions scandal in ten federal states , including 2,100 diesel vehicles in North Rhine-Westphalia and 1,100 in Lower Saxony.

On November 11, 2015, the Federal Motor Transport Authority announced, triggered by the manipulation of the pollutant emission values ​​by the Volkswagen Group using impermissible shutdown devices, whether further manipulations of pollutant emissions, in particular nitrogen oxides (NO x ), might take place in the market. Vehicles from the VW Group and other manufacturers that determine the market are checked. The vehicle models (engine concepts) were selected on the basis of the registration statistics in Germany as well as with reference to verified information from third parties about suspicious pollutant emissions. The investigations include more than 50 different vehicles from domestic and foreign manufacturers with different diesel engines, the pollutant emissions of which are measured both on the roller dynamometer and on the road using Portable Emission Measurement Systems (PEMS). About two thirds of the measurements have already been carried out. Up to now, on the basis of raw data, increased nitrogen oxide values ​​have been determined in some cases under different driving and environmental conditions. This data is further evaluated in discussions with the manufacturers and approval authorities concerned. Only then are legally reliable results available.

In December 2015, Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) had a BMW 320d, a Mercedes C200 CDI and a VW Passat 2.0 TDI tested on the test bench and on the road under real conditions. Deviations between the NOx emissions on the roller dynamometer and the road measurements were found for all vehicles. Before the results of the measurements were published, the DUH received letters from lawyers for the automakers concerned with the intention of preventing publication. A taz journalist reported that about 10 of the 20 present were representatives of the car manufacturers at the press conference to present the results; they would have photographed the attendance lists. At the beginning of January 2016, the Green Bundestag member Oliver Krischer reprimanded the two companies Daimler and BMW for the threatening letters and their behavior. Krischer sits on the Bundestag committee of inquiry into the VW emissions scandal.

On June 2, 2017, Federal Transport Minister Dobrindt announced that Audi had also provided the A7 and A8 models from 2009 to 2013 with an illegal defeat device and that the vehicles must therefore be recalled. Audi has until June 12, 2017 to present an action plan.

The Porsche Cayenne Diesel receives a registration ban

On July 27, 2017, Dobrindt imposed a license ban for the Porsche Cayenne with 3.0-liter TDI engine, which was manufactured and provided by the VW subsidiary Audi. At the same time, he ordered a mandatory recall for 22,000 vehicles across Europe . In December 2017, 57,600 VW Touareg vehicles were also recalled, in whose 3.0-liter TDI engine two prohibited defeat devices were detected.

Audi has to convert almost 130,000 more vehicles to emissions standard 6: In January 2018, the Federal Motor Transport Authority issued a compulsory recall for V6 diesel. The Audi models A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, Q5, SQ5 and Q7 with emissions standard 6 are affected.

Conspicuous measurements by the DUH in spring 2017, in which a BMW 750d xDrive had emitted around eight times the permitted amount of nitrogen oxides, led to an official recall by the KBA for several models with N57 engines , including copies of the BMW M550d xDrive . The "existing impermissible disconnection devices " in the engine control must be removed by a software update.

According to a search ruling by the Stuttgart District Court in July 2017, unauthorized defeat devices were installed in over one million Mercedes vehicles sold between 2008 and 2016 with the OM 642 and OM 651 engines . In May 2018, the KBA also ordered the recall of 6300 Vito models .

In June 2018 it became known that the Federal Motor Transport Authority had discovered a total of five allegedly illegal defeat devices at Daimler. About one million vehicles are affected, the majority of which are Euro 6 diesel. At the same time it became known that Daimler had offered the responsible minister Andreas Scheuer to recall several car models with tens of thousands of vehicles and equip them with legal software. According to Spiegel Online, this also includes models against which the Federal Motor Transport Authority had not yet investigated because they had not yet been tested, while other models were missing that the Federal Office very much assumes that they use illegal shutdown software. At the same time, according to Spiegel Online, Daimler said that they “only want to accept the recalls from the Vito and the other reported models [...] if, in return, the KBA does not bother the company with further tests.” This is called a kind of “ amnesty ” for Daimler interprets. After a meeting with Daimler board member Dieter Zetsche , Transport Minister Scheuer announced in mid-June 2018 that Daimler had to recall around 774,000 vehicles, around 238,000 of them in Germany. These are diesel vehicles from the Mercedes GLS , Mercedes GLE , the C-Class Hybrid, M-Class , G-Class , S-Class , E-Class , V-Class , Sprinter, the Vito , the CLS models and SUVs - GLC models. Daimler said they would implement the recall, but at the same time sue the decision. No penalty was imposed on Daimler. As a measure that could be linked to the planned recall of 238,000 vehicles, Daimler on June 22, 2018 prohibited its dealers in writing from delivering diesel vehicles with the Euro 6b emissions standard at all. Several hundred vehicles from the 177 , 246 and 205 series with four-cylinder engines in which the car manufacturer wants to update the software first before the vehicles go to customers are affected .

In October 2018, Opel locations were searched by the public prosecutor and data were backed up, as an illegal disconnection device is suspected in several models. The investigation is based on an initial suspicion of fraud. A total of five different shutdown devices are said to have been found. The conversion of the vehicles is said to have dragged Opel further and further. At the same time it became known that the Federal Motor Transport Authority wanted to recall around 100,000 vehicles and have them converted because of these events. On November 9, 2018, the 3rd Chamber of the Schleswig-Holstein Administrative Court rejected an urgent application from Opel against a compulsory recall of the affected models. The 5th Division of the Schleswig-Holstein Higher Administrative Court has on 6 November 2019, the obligation of Opel incontestable confirmed that diesel vehicles Opel Zafira 1.6 and 2.0 CDTi, Opel Cascada 2.0 CDTi and Opel Insignia 2.0 CDTi from the years 2013 to 2016 immediately are to be called back.

In April 2019 it became known that around 60,000 Mercedes-Benz GLK 220 CDI models with the OM 651 engine , which were produced between 2012 and 2015, the legal limit value for nitrogen oxides would be significantly exceeded. There is a suspicion of an impermissible disconnection device.

In July 2019, Deutsche Umwelthilfe published a press release in which it states that Porsche vehicles equipped with Audi diesel engines complying with the Euro 5 and Euro 6 emissions standard exceed the limit values ​​for nitrogen oxides many times over.

The legal NOx limit value for diesel cars Euro 5 is 180 mg NOx / km. According to DUH , the Porsche Panamera equipped with an EA897 engine , with an average of 1,498 mg / km of NOx emissions, exceeded the limit value 8.3 times. According to the DUH, the measurements were made at outside temperatures between +10 and +14 degrees Celsius. Two Porsche Cayenne with the EA897evo engine (Euro 6) are said to have exceeded the applicable limit of 80 mg / km NOx in normal mode by 3.6 and 4.2 times respectively. According to DUH, exceeding the Cayenne in normal mode is doubled in sport mode with the same driving style. The software update ordered by the Federal Motor Transport Authority also does not prevent the limit value from being exceeded. A tested Porsche Cayenne, emission standard Euro 6, exceeds the limit value by 2.4 times at +10 to +16 degrees Celsius with an average of 191 mg NO x / km after the software update. In addition, the vehicle is registered with carbon dioxide emissions of 179 g CO 2 / km, but in real operation on the road, according to the DUH, the average emissions are 241 g CO 2 / km. In addition to the Audi A8 4.2 TDI diesel car with the Euro 6 emissions standard, which was already examined by the DUH in 2017 and which, according to the company's own statements, measured an average of 1,422 mg NO x / km, other new measurements on Audi models also showed that NO x limit values ​​were exceeded . An Audi SQ5 plus 3.0 TDI with the Euro 6 emissions standard that was examined , with the same engine generation (EA897evo) as the Porsche Cayenne, emits an average of 441 mg NO x / km at outside temperatures between +4 and +11 degrees Celsius. According to the press release, the DUH carried out the measurements in road traffic using PEMS .

Triggered by the measurements, the DUH asked the manufacturers to publish a complete overview of all the cut-off devices installed for each diesel vehicle and to undertake to help all diesel buyers concerned to obtain a legally compliant vehicle by repairing the diesel exhaust gas cleaning system free of charge for them - or refund them the full purchase price. The environmental and consumer protection association also announced that it would make the results of the investigation available to the law enforcement authorities, the European antitrust authority and all the holders concerned and their lawyers. At the same time, the DUH renewed its criticism of the Federal Motor Transport Authority and of Andreas Scheuer, who, according to Jürgen Resch, on the one hand, withholds documents on the defeat devices found in the vehicles, despite legally binding convictions for disclosure, and on the other hand, prevents officially ordered hardware retrofits.

Austria

The Austrian Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology, Alois Stöger , ordered the recall of 363,400 affected diesel vehicles from the Volkswagen Group on October 15, 2015, in line with the decision of the KBA in Germany. The affected vehicle owners have been informed by Porsche Austria. The recall began in January 2016.

On October 23, 2015 it became known that 2,372 diesel vehicles of the Austrian police were also affected.

North America

In the USA, the engine in the 2.0-liter variant was used in the years from 2008 to 2015. The values ​​for nitrogen oxides in these engines are 10 to 40 times the prescribed limit value Tier 2 Bin 5 during normal driving . At the beginning of November 2015, the EPA expanded the list to include vehicle types from the brands VW, Audi and Porsche that have a three-liter engine (3.0 TDI) and have exceeded the limit by up to nine times. According to the EPA, there are at least 482,000 vehicles in the following series:

In October 2015, VW withdrew the application for approval for the 2016 diesel models because the engine management system contained software that should have been disclosed to the EPA. The only exceptions are VW Touaregs that do not use the EA189 successor EA288 .

Knowledge and warnings about the scandal, concealment

Knowledge at Volkswagen

An initial test report by VW's internal auditing department showed that a VW technician had already warned Heinz-Jakob Neußer , then head of engine development at the Volkswagen brand , of illegal practices with exhaust gas values in 2011 . However, the report left open why the warning was then without consequences.

After internal investigations, a first interim report was submitted to the VW Supervisory Board on September 28, 2016. Accordingly, the decision to manipulate the software in diesel vehicles was made in 2005 and 2006, in the engine development department at VW headquarters in Wolfsburg.

In April 2016, the internal investigations by the law firm Jones Day revealed that all executives below board level who were involved in the development of the engines are considered to be "burdened" with regard to their knowledge of the manipulation. Participants in a meeting on November 20, 2006 stated that the then head of engine development at Volkswagen, Rudolf Krebs, had approved the installation. Cancer denies this. From 2008, engines with the fraudulent software were sold in the USA. Several people had given the record that the ex-head of development Ulrich Hackenberg had been inaugurated.

In March 2016, the corporate management admitted that Winterkorn had been informed in May 2014 and again in November 2014 that some VW models emitted 35 times the permitted nitrogen oxide values ​​under real conditions. In July 2015, the problem was discussed again at an internal group meeting, in which VW brand boss Herbert Diess also took part. In an indictment dated July 2016, the New York public prosecutor stated that Winterkorn and Matthias Müller knew about the use of a disconnection device at the VW subsidiary Audi in 2006.

The Bild am Sonntag reported in September 2016 Winterkorn was aware as early as June 2015 the differences in emissions. She is referring to a paper in which Winterkorn confirms that the problem should be "partially" disclosed to the US authorities.

In September 2016, an email from an Audi employee from 2007 became known. In it, the latter states that the emission standards in the USA will not be met “without shitting”. In an internal VW paper that was made public in November, the company's own lawyers pointed out that the disconnection devices in several vehicles with automatic transmissions under the term "warm-up programs" are not legal. At the beginning of November, further internal company papers showed that the Californian air pollution control authority CARB discovered illegal disconnection devices in vehicles with the automatic transmission "AL 551". The manipulations have been in practice for years in diesel and gasoline vehicles in the European and American markets.

When the ICCT, in cooperation with West Virginia University (WVU), carried out exhaust gas measurements on VW vehicles in 2014 and found discrepancies, in the same year nitrogen dioxide inhalations in monkeys were found in a study carried out by VW , Daimler-Benz and BMW made to prove the suitability of exhaust filters or the health compatibility of own vehicles in the test. The effect of the exhaust gases from a VW Beetle equipped with manipulated exhaust technology and a Ford diesel truck (model year 1999) on monkeys was examined and compared.

The courts in Germany also doubt that the scandal took place without the board being aware of it. For example, the Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court ruled on July 18, 2019 for the consumer who filed the suit and obliged Volkswagen AG to pay damages for intentional immoral damage in accordance with Section 826 of the German Civil Code (BGB).

Warnings to government agencies

The environmental authorities in some cities have paid special attention to the exhaust gases from motor vehicles since the 1990s. In a report by the Berlin Senate Department from 2005, it said: "In terms of nitrogen oxides, road traffic replaced industrial plants as the main cause of the Berlin sources at the beginning of the 1990s." According to this, road traffic already had a share of almost 50% in 2002 nitrogen oxide emissions, while emissions from industrial plants fell below 30%. In 2012 it was also said that motor vehicle traffic was the “main cause of air pollution close to the ground”. Hopes were placed on "the further improvement of vehicle technology".

According to research by NDR, WDR and SZ , the government and the responsible ministries already knew in May 2010 through a study and an assessment by the ADAC that - with all diesel manufacturers - limit values ​​were complied with with the aid of cut-off devices during tests, which, however, in real operation clearly exceeded the road to the detriment of people and the environment. According to Spiegel, the first indications of manipulation were already there during the grand coalition in 2008, when the Federal Environment Agency drew up a concept for a new monitoring system and warned against manipulation by software. However, the information from the Federal Environment Agency was subsequently deleted from a report by the Ministry of the Environment (BMU), as these findings were "landmines" according to the responsible BMU employee.

In June 2016, the British newspaper The Guardian documented that the European Commission had already been informed in 2010 by its in-house scientific service about irregularities in emissions tests and the suspicion of a built-in “defeat device”. In 2013, a study by the Commission's Environment Department warned of "increasing evidence of illegal practices bypassing air pollution control systems". The then director of the environmental department, Karl Falkenberg, appealed in November 2014 to the director of the market department, Daniel Calleja Crespo, to have the irregularities in the emissions tests investigated.

According to press reports, since 2011 the EU Commission had also known from a supplier that car manufacturers in the EU were cheating by manipulating engine management when measuring exhaust gas. Nevertheless, Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska later appeared before the EU Parliament and said that the Commission was not aware of the fraud.

The responsible technical committee of the European Union decided in May 2015 that approval tests, in particular with regard to nitrogen oxide emissions, should not only be carried out under laboratory conditions , but also in real driving on the road ( emissions during practical driving ).

Reactions and consequences

Reactions from Volkswagen

Martin Winterkorn (2014)

On September 20, 2015, the Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG Martin Winterkorn publicly admitted the offense. Volkswagen then stopped selling the affected diesel vehicles in the United States and Canada. Winterkorn publicly apologized for the events on September 22, 2015. He said, “I am so sorry that we failed to trust that person. I apologize in all form to our customers, the authorities and the general public for the misconduct. "VW works council boss Bernd Osterloh called for personnel consequences:" We'll look at what happened over the next few days and who is responsible. "

On the same day, VW made provisions of 6.5 billion euros for the third quarter , which corresponds to more than half of the annual profit from 2014. At the same time a profit warning was issued . Due to the impending investigation, Volkswagen commissioned the US law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP to represent them legally. The firm had already represented the British oil company BP in 2010 after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform .

On September 22, 2015, VW admitted that the software in question was also available in other vehicles outside the United States and had an impact on test bench values ​​in around eleven million vehicles worldwide. Affected, the motor type is EA189 , the common rail engines according to Euro 5 with three or four cylinders, and displacements of 1.2 l, 1.6 l and 2.0 l comprises. According to the company, a noticeable discrepancy between the test bench values ​​and real driving operation was found only with this type of engine.

On September 23, 2015, Winterkorn asked the Supervisory Board Presidium to terminate his contract. He justified his resignation with a new beginning possible, although he was "not aware of any wrongdoing". In January 2017, Winterkorn was questioned before the investigative committee of the German Bundestag.

On September 25, the supervisory board appointed the previous CEO of Porsche AG , Matthias Müller , as the new chairman.

According to internal investigations, the first VW employees are said to have confessed to illegal software manipulations in diesel engines.

Herbert Diess , Board Member for the Volkswagen brand, stated on October 13, 2015: “The Volkswagen brand is repositioning itself for the future. We are becoming more efficient, realigning the product range and core technologies and creating the scope for future-oriented technologies with the accelerated efficiency program. ”A savings program in investments of around one billion euros per year is intended to cushion the costs of the emissions scandal. For Europe and North America, it was decided to completely switch diesel units to SCR and AdBlue technology as soon as possible. Only the most environmentally-friendly exhaust systems should be used in diesel vehicles.

On October 17, 2015, the works council of the Volkswagen group criticized the discussions of the VW board about the possible reduction of the 6,000 employees who are employed by temporary employment agencies . A VW spokesman said on October 17, 2015: "Should there be a temporary decline in employment, short-time work will be a sensible option as in the past". For temporary workers, however, short-time work is not yet permitted due to Section 11 (4 ) of the Temporary Employment Act (AÜG).

After Volkswagen AG had denied on October 15 that engines other than the EA189 had been manipulated, a company spokesman admitted on October 22, 2015 that the EA288 was also affected in the USA. The Euro 5 versions and Euro 6 versions, on the other hand, did not contain any inadmissible defeat devices.

According to the price comparison website TrueCar , VW dealers in the USA offered an average new car discount of around eleven percent in October 2015; the industry average was around six percent.

VW CFO Frank Witter told analysts on October 28, 2015 that the Volkswagen Group also had a lower tax burden on the state due to the reduction in profit due to the billions in provisions for recalls of diesel vehicles. In the press it was reported that Volkswagen was passing the costs on to the taxpayer. A reduction in the tax burden is not permissible in the case of costs from the emissions scandal in Germany, only in criminal proceedings. In the third quarter of 2015, Volkswagen set aside around 6.7 billion euros for recalls of several million diesel vehicles and thus reported a loss before interest and taxes (EBIT) of around 3.5 billion euros for the first time in over 15 years .

In response to the second Notice of Violation published by the EPA on November 2, 2015 , the VW Group denied having carried out any manipulation. The company argued that it was rather "a common and legal system for regulating emissions", "which the group did not specify when it was registered in the USA". Nevertheless, according to the Handelsblatt, sales of the VW, Audi and Porsche brands named in the notice were stopped in the USA.

On November 3, 2015, Volkswagen announced that internal investigations had found that irregularities had occurred in determining the carbon dioxide value for type approval of vehicles. This has affected around 800,000 vehicles from the VW Group, including around 98,000 with gasoline engines , according to Federal Transport Minister Dobrindt . In an initial estimate, the economic risks were put at around two billion euros. In coordination with the authorities, it should be clarified how a correct classification of the CO 2 values ​​for the vehicles concerned is to be carried out. The European Commission promised to pay fines and Dobrindt back taxes on the part of the vehicle owner. On November 6, 2015, the VW board of directors assured the finance ministers of the European Union that possible back payments for vehicle taxes due to incorrect information on carbon dioxide emissions would be taken over by the VW Group. On November 9, 2015, the EU Commission asked Volkswagen to provide "details of the refined information on fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions" within ten days, in particular on the models concerned and specific deviations in emissions.

On 9 November 2015 launched Volkswagen of America , a goodwill program affected in the US owner car $ 1,000 per 2.0-liter diesel vehicle (2.0 L TDI) in the form of a credit card ( Visa Prepaid Loyalty Card, issued by from MetaBank) and another VW dealer card (Volkswagen Dealership Card) worth 500 US dollars each, as well as free 24-hour breakdown assistance for three years. Customers must register on a VW website by April 30, 2016, stating the mileage, in order to receive the cards. Then they have to prove their vehicle ownership since at least 8 November 2015 by presenting the registration number or similar in order to activate the cards at a VW dealer, whereby the mileage of the car is also read. VW emphasizes that receiving the “Customer Goodwill Package” does not relinquish any rights of action or other claims against VW. On March 9, 2016, the CEO of Volkswagen of America , Michael Horn, resigned. Horn has held the office since 2014.

For the first quarter of 2016, the Volkswagen Group posted a profit of 3.2 billion euros, 20% less than in the previous year. The profit of the Volkswagen brand slumped from 514 million euros in the previous year to 73 million euros. Christian Stadler from the Warwick Business School warned against underestimating these numbers. Volkswagen's competitor for the title of the largest automobile manufacturer, the US American General Motors Company , generated lower profits over the same period.

As part of the internal investigations by the US law firm Jones Day , the VW subsidiary Audi came more and more into focus from July 2016. After the discovery of incriminating documents that prove the use of the malware at Audi from 2004 onwards, Audi is the “mother of fraud” within the Group. The research network of NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung reported in September 2016 that four high-ranking members of engine development had been given leave of absence, among them the Chief Development Officer Stefan Knirsch. Knirsch denies knowledge of the fraud. In March, the public prosecutor's offices in Munich and Stuttgart searched offices in the VW and Audi locations in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm. The Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on searches of private apartments, whereby Rupert Stadler's was initially excluded. One of the allegations is that of “criminal advertising”, since Audi misled the user with the slogan “Vorsprung durch Technik” when using an illegal defeat device. After Federal Transport Minister Dobrindt had spoken of an “inadmissible disconnection device” in Audi Euro 5 models in June 2017, Stadler accused him of being active in the run-up to the upcoming federal election in September 2017 in an internal Audi message .

Mid-June 2018 was Audi Chairman Rupert Stadler in custody taken after previously u. a. his private apartment had been examined. The public prosecutor's office accuses him of “fraud and indirect false certification” by bringing diesel vehicles with manipulated emission control onto the market. The pre-trial detention was justified with the risk of obscuration , i. H. the suspicion that evidence could be destroyed or testimony manipulated. Previously, Stadler is said to have tried to influence witnesses. On June 19, 2018, Stadler was then given leave of absence from the Audi Supervisory Board.

The Munich II public prosecutor's office is currently examining charges of fraud, indirect criminal notarization and criminal advertising against ex-Audi CEO Rupert Stadler.

In June 2016, the Lower Saxony public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig brought charges against Winterkorn and Herbert Diess. At the Annual General Meeting in June 2016, the actions of the former Group Management Board including Winterkorn and Diess were discharged. The Lower Saxony state government abstained from the vote.

On April 15, 2019, it became known that the Braunschweig public prosecutor had brought charges against the former VW boss Martin Winterkorn. He is accused of, among other things, serious fraud, breach of trust, tax evasion and criminal advertising.

In September 2019, the Braunschweig public prosecutor brought charges against Martin Winterkorn again on suspicion of market manipulation (deliberate disregard of the obligation to report events relevant to the share price) and against Herbert Diess and Hans Dieter Pötsch for the same reason .

Technical solution

As part of the recall campaign for VW EA189 engines with a displacement of 1.2, 1.6 and 2.0 liters under the code 23R7, the engine control unit is being reprogrammed. A so-called flow transformer (also called a flow straightener or air guide grille) is retrofitted in 1.6-liter diesel engines . This component, which costs only a few euros, is also intended to solve the problem of excessively high emissions in the future. The flow straightener is a grid that calms the turbulent air flow and creates a laminar flow through which the air mass meter provides more precise information for the engine management, after which the consumption should decrease. The effectiveness of the measures is controversial.

After the recall campaigns began, more and more defects in the exhaust gas recirculation were reported. Volkswagen disputes the connection.

A confidential VW internal paper, which is available to the TV magazine ZDFzoom and which was also allowed to be viewed by Spiegel , shows that the exhaust gas problem of the diesel engines has not been solved even after the conversion. According to this, Volkswagen installed several shutdown systems with the software update for the recall campaign, which continue to differentiate between laboratory and road traffic and lead to excessive nitrogen emissions in road traffic of up to 900 mg per kilometer, while the legal limit for these Euro 5 diesel engines is 180 mg lies. The paper also shows that at the height of the emissions scandal in 2015, Volkswagen as the manufacturer defined these “target values” for nitrogen oxide emissions itself, while the Federal Motor Transport Authority merely approved the VW plans.

Crisis communication

At the beginning of the crisis communication , Martin Winterkorn initially spoke in general terms of "irregularities" with a view to the VW emissions scandal. In a separate communication dated October 6, 2015, VW used the term “emissions scandal” without further ado. Since the end of October 2015, VW has been referring to the emissions scandal with the less specific and euphemistic terms “diesel issue” or “emissions issue”. The corresponding term “emissions issue” or “TDI emissions issue” is used in English-language communications. In May 2017, the chairman of the supervisory board, Hans Dieter Pötsch, later spoke of the "diesel crisis" that the company had to cope with. How u. a. the Manager Magazin noticed, this is a "a subtle but clearly audible verbal swing".

Reform plans

A reform plan presented in mid-November 2016 provides for the shedding of up to 30,000 jobs at VW by the end of 2025. In Germany alone, up to 23,000 jobs are to be cut at the core Volkswagen brand. At the same time, 9,000 new jobs are to be created and 3.5 billion euros invested in future viability.

Reactions from Bosch

VW bought the exhaust gas aftertreatment technology from its supplier Bosch . Bosch, however, rejected any responsibility for the scandal and instead referred to VW. A Bosch spokesman said: “We manufacture the components according to Volkswagen specifications. […] VW is responsible for the application and integration of the components. ”The company has no knowledge of reprogramming. As early as 2007, Bosch warned VW in a letter against the illegal use of its technology for exhaust aftertreatment. However, in a settlement in 2017, Bosch paid EUR 304 million to US civil plaintiffs who accused Bosch of actively helping to manipulate the emission values ​​of VW cars. In 2019, Bosch had to pay a fine of 90 million euros to settle the legal disputes in Germany.

Reactions from TÜV Nord

On November 23, 2015, the chairman of the board of TÜV Nord and chairman of the TÜV association , Guido Rettig, criticized the federal government in an interview with the world . At the urging of the automotive industry, this prohibited the TÜV inspectors from examining the vehicle's engine software. "Unfortunately, by law, we have no way of looking into the engine management system and the software installed in the vehicles" and "for this reason, our experts had no chance of detecting the manipulation of nitrogen oxides in diesel vehicles."

State reactions

EU commission

On December 8, 2016, the European Commission opened infringement proceedings against Germany and 6 other member states for failing to meet their obligations under EU legislation for the type approval of motor vehicles. According to this, Germany did not apply its national provisions on sanctions, although Volkswagen used prohibited shutdown programs. Furthermore, the Commission takes the view that Germany broke the law by refusing to disclose all information gathered in national investigations concerning potential irregularities in nitrogen oxide emissions from vehicles of the Volkswagen group and other manufacturers, following a request by the Commission.

In July 2017, Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry , Elżbieta Bieńkowska, wrote in a letter calling on all EU transport ministers to ensure that all tampered diesel vehicles are converted or decommissioned by the end of 2017 at the latest.

Germany

Federal government

Federal Minister of Economics Sigmar Gabriel (SPD) described the scandal as a "bad incident" after it became known in September 2015, but emphasized that the term Made in Germany is a quality term worldwide. On October 8, 2015, he warned Volkswagen's European and global works council in Wolfsburg that the 70,000 jobs that depend on modern diesel technology will be cut.

On September 25, 2015, Germany's Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) informed the public at a meeting of the German Bundestag that 2.8 million diesel vehicles from the Volkswagen Group had been affected by the manipulation. Other European markets are also affected.

Meanwhile, the Federal Motor Transport Authority requested Volkswagen in writing to submit a “binding action plan and schedule” by October 7, 2015, stating whether and by when the vehicles will comply with the binding emissions regulations without manipulating the software .

On October 4, 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Deutschlandfunk that the affair over fancy emission levels was a decisive event. But she does not believe that confidence in German companies has been so shaken that Germany's good reputation as a business location is suffering.

On October 14, 2015, Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks (SPD) called in a position paper to draw conclusions from the emissions scandal at Volkswagen.

On October 16, 2015, Federal Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) referred in a two-page letter to 31 European counterparts to the decision of the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) of October 15, according to which the installed software was an inadmissible defeat device according to Article 5 paragraph 2 of Regulation (EU) No. 715/2007 (limit values ​​for the emission standard ) handle. In June 2017, Dobrindt spoke publicly for the first time about an “inadmissible defeat device” in Audi's Euro 5 models, whereupon Audi chairman Stadler accused him of “going it alone”.

In addition to the official statements, after the VW scandal became known, the German government put pressure on the EU Commission and the EU Parliament, according to press reports, to weaken the legally prescribed limit values ​​to such an extent that cars now also receive approvals that were those at the time of the decision Exceed valid limit values ​​for pollutant emissions by twice.

In September 2016, the research network of the NDR, WDR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung published extensive research on the efforts of the federal government to limit damage to the brand made in Germany internationally . Attention was always paid to the separation of the Volkswagen brand and the abstract brand made in Germany , the group-internal efforts to clarify matters were emphasized and the German commitment to more realistic emission measurements on a European level was emphasized. The German embassy in the USA also emphasized to the US administration that damage to the VW group was "not in the interests of German-American relations".

Investigation Commission of the Federal Ministry of Transport
Federal Minister of Transport Alexander Dobrindt (2015)

In September 2015, Federal Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt set up an eight-person investigative commission headed by State Secretary Michael Odenwald and on September 21, 2015 instructed the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) to immediately initiate strict specific inspections of the VW diesel models by independent experts. The KBA commissioned the audit company Dekra as an independent expert .

The commission of inquiry had already held around 20 meetings by January 2016.

Members of the commission of inquiry
person Office / function
Michael Odenwald (Chair) State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Transport
Alexander Dobrindt Federal Minister of Transport
Frank Albrecht Ministerialrat in the Federal Ministry of Transport
(subdivision LA 23 Road Traffic Law, Vehicle Registration, Charging Law, Federal Motor Transport Authority)
Stephan Redmann in the Federal Ministry of Transport for the area of road traffic approval regulations ,
formerly at the Federal Highway Research Institute
Guido Zielke Ministerial Director in the Federal Ministry of Transport
(Subdivision LA 2 Road Transport)
Ekhard Zinke President of the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA)
Mark Wummel Government director in the Federal Motor Transport Authority
Georg Wachtmeister Professor and chair holder for internal combustion engines at the Technical University of Munich as an external expert and managing director of DERC GmbH in Oberroth

On October 19, 2017 it was announced that Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt is giving up his office in order - according to the official reason - to devote more time to his party. The press release of his ministry does not contain any references to this justification.

State governments

Lower Saxony's Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD), who is officially a member of the VW Group's supervisory board, said on September 21: "A manipulation of emissions tests is completely unacceptable and cannot be justified by anything." The damage to the image of Volkswagen and the entire German auto industry experts around the world consider it a serious threat. Weil, as the VW supervisory board, said to the Süddeutsche Zeitung on October 28, 2015: "What we at VW find very painfully is that the willingness to draw attention to undesirable developments in good time even if one is not personally responsible for them. is not sufficiently developed ”. Weil sees a lot of catching up to do in terms of ideas about leadership, personal responsibility and group work.

In August 2016, Bavaria was the first federal state to file suit against Volkswagen. The pension fund for state employees held around 58,000 preference shares in September 2015. The loss of the share price in the context of the emissions scandal caused damage of up to 700,000 euros, according to Bavarian Finance Minister Markus Söder ( CSU ).

In September 2016, Hessen and Baden-Württemberg sued the group. The Hessian Finance Minister Thomas Schäfer ( CDU ) spoke of losses of up to 3.9 million euros for the pension fund for Hessian civil servants. The damage to Baden-Württemberg, which holds 65,000 shares, amounts to up to 400,000 euros , according to the Baden-Württemberg Finance Minister Edith Sitzmann ( Greens ).

Investigative Committee of the Bundestag

At the end of April 2016, the parliamentary groups of the Left and Alliance 90 / The Greens requested the establishment of a committee of inquiry to deal with the emissions scandal. The committee was constituted on July 7, 2016. It is the fifth committee of inquiry in the 18th legislative period. The members are Veronika Bellmann , Uwe Lagosky , Ulrich Lange and Carsten Müller for the CDU / CSU , Kirsten Lühmann and Dirk Wiese for the SPD . Herbert Behrens from the Left is the committee chairman, Oliver Krischer from the Greens is the vice chairman. The committee is supposed to shed light on the technical background of the deviations from real emissions and those on the test bench and the knowledge and actions of the federal government as well as take legislative measures for prevention and improvement.

At the end of August, experts presented reports on the old and new test procedures to the committee. The committee also passed a decision to take evidence on the legal classification of the implementation of the EU emission standards in Germany and on the behavior of the responsible federal authorities. In January 2017, the former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn was questioned in the committee. By contrast, the former VW supervisory board chairman Ferdinand Piëch refused to appear before the committee in February 2017.

Cities

The Lord Mayor of the City of Wolfsburg, Klaus Mohrs , reacted on September 28, 2015 to the VW scandal and the expected losses in trade tax with an immediate budget freeze and a hiring freeze in the public sector. Subsequently, the Lord Mayors of the cities of Braunschweig, Ulrich Markurth (SPD), and Ingolstadt, Christian Lösel (CSU), imposed budget freezes.

National Forum Diesel
Speed ​​limit for air pollution control in Munich, Landshuter Allee

On August 2, 2017, a “Diesel Summit”, organized by Federal Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt, took place, to which Federal Ministers, Prime Ministers and representatives of the German auto industry were invited. Environmental and consumer protection associations were not invited to the meeting. The aim of the summit was to sound out measures to reduce pollutant emissions from diesel vehicles. It was mutually agreed that

  1. the German automobile manufacturers (BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen) carry out software updates for their "on the road" diesel vehicles of EU emission standards 5 and 6 at their expense,
  2. the German automobile manufacturers will offer discounts to those of their customers who operate diesel vehicles of EU emission standard 4 or older if they scrap these vehicles and instead purchase diesel vehicles of the latest generation (EU emission standard 6) or vehicles with electric drive ,
  3. A fund with a volume of EUR 500 million is to be set up to promote new mobility concepts for cities, with half of the fund being financed by the federal government on the one hand and the automobile manufacturers on the other.

The decision was critically assessed by the media, experts such as Ferdinand Dudenhöffer and Claudia Kemfert, as well as NGOs (such as ADAC , BUND and Deutsche Umwelthilfe ). Among other things, it was criticized that of the approx. 15 million diesel vehicles in Germany only the 5.3 million vehicles in the Euro 5 and Euro 6 classes should receive a software update, while older vehicles and vehicles from foreign manufacturers are excluded from the update. In addition, the software updates are not mandatory, but voluntary and there is little incentive for operators to actually have the updates carried out, especially since the necessary reductions in pollutants can hardly be achieved. Thus the diesel driving bans , which one originally wanted to avoid, became a likely outcome.

The ZDF satirical program heute-show commented on the event as follows: "It's like the children go to parents' evening themselves". The Berliner Morgenpost judged the summit as a “farce” and “betrayal of the consumer”.

According to various assessments, the results achieved at the “Diesel Summit” in the form of software updates are insufficient to avoid driving bans on diesel vehicles in cities.

A second diesel summit was therefore held at the end of November 2017. In this context, the federal government promised in particular to stabilize the financing of its funding programs for e-mobility and low-emission transport as a fund for sustainable mobility in the city. To this end, a total of one billion euros would be budgeted annually, which the automotive industry will also contribute proportionally.

At the end of July 2018, around a year after the diesel summit, none of the announced measures had yet been implemented.

Another diesel summit took place on the night of October 1 and 2, 2018. It was negotiated that cars in emission classes Euro 4 and Euro 5 may drive in zones with driving bans if they emit less than 270 milligrams of nitrogen oxide per kilometer. So far, the limit for Euro 5 vehicles is 180 milligrams and for Euro 4 vehicles it is 250 milligrams. According to this, car owners of Euro 4 and Euro 5 vehicles should be able to benefit from so-called conversion premiums. Car owners of Euro 5 vehicles in fourteen “particularly polluted cities” (Munich, Stuttgart, Cologne, Reutlingen, Düren, Hamburg, Limburg, Düsseldorf, Kiel , Heilbronn, Backnang, Darmstadt, Bochum and Ludwigsburg) should upgrade their hardware to reduce the risk contribute to nitrogen oxide emissions. Opel and BMW have already announced that they will not offer such retrofits ( SCR system ). The SCR catalytic converter for reducing NOx emissions is installed as standard in diesel vehicles for the US market from BMW.

Penalties against German car manufacturers and suppliers for breach of duty of supervision

In Germany, in the diesel affair , Volkswagen was obliged by the Braunschweig public prosecutor in June 2018 to pay one billion euros for “breach of duty of supervision ” ( administrative offense ). This is made up of the statutory maximum fine of five million euros and a levy of economic benefits amounting to 995 million euros. Volkswagen refrains from appealing "and thereby acknowledges its responsibility". According to the public prosecutor's office, the money must be paid to the state of Lower Saxony within six weeks (this is the highest fine that has ever been imposed on a company in Germany).

The Munich Public Prosecutor's Office (II) initiated fine proceedings against Audi in August 2017 . The company was accused of "not complying with the regulatory requirements" with V6 and V8 diesel engines in the years 2004 to 2018. On October 15, 2018, company representatives stated that Audi acknowledged its responsibility for the lack of supervision of the "Organizational Unit Exhaust Service / Authorization Units", accepted the decision of the public prosecutor's office and paid a fine of 800 million euros (5 million euros actual fine and 795 Million euros “skimming off economic benefits”).

In February 2019, BMW was obliged by the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office (I) to pay a fine of 8.5 million euros for negligent breach of duty of supervision. Since no fraud was proven, the amount of the fine was small compared to the other automobile manufacturers.

In May 2019, the Stuttgart public prosecutor imposed a fine of 535 million euros on Porsche and a fine of 90 million euros on Robert Bosch GmbH for negligent breach of duty of supervision in the course of exhaust gas fraud.

The same public prosecutor's office imposed a fine of 870 million euros on Daimler AG in September 2019, also for breach of duty of supervision in the course of the fraud. The amount consists of a four million euro fine plus a so-called profit skimming of 866 million euros. Daimler announced that it would not appeal the sentence.

In July 2020, the Stuttgart public prosecutor's office also imposed a fine of 42.5 million euros on the automotive supplier ZF Friedrichshafen for breaching its supervisory duties in several cases.

Great Britain

The Department for Transport announced on September 24, 2015 that it would measure emissions from vehicles from different manufacturers to ensure that shutdown devices are not used across the industry.

On October 12, 2015, Paul Willis, CEO of the Volkswagen Group United Kingdom, spoke in the British House of Commons on the emissions scandal and asked "honestly and unreservedly" for forgiveness for the manipulation of emissions. Around 1.2 million diesel vehicles are affected in the UK. Of these, the diesel injection must be changed in around 400,000 vehicles.

On March 27, 2018, a three-day hearing before the Supreme Court began to clarify whether the possible claims for damages by VW customers are suitable for a class action.

Italy

The Italian Ministry of Transport also launched an investigation against Volkswagen. Transport Minister Graziano Delrio said on September 25th that around 1000 vehicles sold nationwide should be checked. In May 2017, defeat devices were discovered in models made by the Italian car maker Fiat . Shortly thereafter, the European Commission initiated proceedings against the Italian licensing authority.

European Union

A technical committee of the European Commission suggested in October 2015 that type approvals of new models from September 2017 may exceed the nitrogen oxide limit values ​​by up to 110% and from January 2020 the limit values ​​by up to 50%. A veto application in the European Parliament narrowly failed after strong lobbying by Germany, Great Britain and Denmark - which does not have a strong auto industry. The European Parliament set up the EMIS committee of inquiry .

Switzerland

On September 25, 2015, the Swiss Federal Roads Office (FEDRO) announced the type approval for the affected vehicle models of the brands Audi, Seat, Škoda and Volkswagen from the years of construction 2009 to 2014 (only Euro 5 versions), those with diesel engines in the 1.2 TDI, 1.6 TDI and 2.0 TDI are to be withdrawn. On September 28, 2015, FEDRO announced that the type approval of the older vehicles allegedly affected would not expire. The focus is now on the new vehicles of the Volkswagen Group.

Canada

With a final judgment in January 2020, Canada imposed a multi-million dollar fine at the expense of VW for violating environmental laws and import regulations on diesel vehicles. VW will pay fines of € 135 million, according to the Toronto prosecutor. VW Canada pleaded guilty and accepted the sentence.

India

The Indian government instructed the Automotive Research Association of India to immediately examine Volkswagen Group vehicles to determine whether they violate Indian emissions regulations.

South Korea

In South Korea it was ordered that Volkswagen vehicles had to undergo an emissions test. In 2016, the approval for 80 models of the group was withdrawn, including the brands VW, Audi and Bentley. In addition, Volkswagen AG has to pay a fine of 14.3 million euros to South Korea .

United States

The EPA announced that diesel vehicles from other car manufacturers will now also be examined more closely. The six-cylinder diesel engines from Audi and Porsche offered in the USA are also being examined by the EPA.

On October 8, 2015, Michael Horn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Group of America since 2014, had to testify under oath before the Committee on Energy and Trade of the United States Congress . Horn stated: “I had no knowledge that there was a defeat device in our cars.” However, in a statement that was distributed in advance, Horn stated that it had learned of possible violations of US emissions regulations as early as the spring of 2014. He was also told that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could impose fines. Horn said he assumed that the company's engineers were working with the EPA on a solution. Horn also announced that Volkswagen has withdrawn the application for the approval of diesel vehicles of the model year 2016 with the new auxiliary device Auxiliary Emissions Control Device (AECD) because the environmental authorities still have to check the use of the AECD, as it is unclear whether it is there A permissible means of exhaust gas control or another manipulation software act.

On March 9, 2016, Horn resigned as CEO of VW US . His executive successor is Hinrich Woebcken.

Norway

The Norwegian state fund Statens pensjonsfond sued VW for losses from share transactions with Volkswagen over hundreds of millions of euros. As the fourth largest shareholder, he holds 1.64 percent of the Group's shares.

Reactions from business and society

  • In a meeting with the EU countries, the European Commission proposed a regulation according to which the car industry may only deviate by up to 60 percent from the maximum permissible values in real road traffic during a transition period from 2017 to 2019 . From 2019, only a fault tolerance of 17 percent should be allowed. The Commission has the right to make a proposal, but in the end it is up to the EU countries to decide on it. At the end of October 2015, the EU member states agreed that a deviation of up to 110 percent should be permitted for nitrogen dioxide emissions in real road traffic in a transition period from September 2017 to 2019 and a deviation of 50 percent from 2020.
  • In addition, the EU called for independent vehicle controls and the possibility of ordering recalls yourself and imposing fines of up to 30,000 euros per vehicle on car manufacturers if the member state does not do so. The media rated this as the EU's strongest response to date to the admission of manipulation of exhaust gas measurements by VW.
  • A scientific study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), published on October 29, 2015 in the journal Environmental Research Letters , came to the conclusion that the pollution increased from 2008 to 2015 as a result of the manipulation of around 482,000 diesel vehicles of the Volkswagen Group In the United States, 59 people will die prematurely, there will be 31 cases of possible chronic bronchitis and a social cost of $ 450 million. If Volkswagen withdrew all vehicles by the end of 2016, around 130 further premature deaths could be avoided.
  • Peter Mock, Head of Europe and Managing Director in Germany of the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) told manager-magazin.de: "A larger filter on the Jetta would hardly have resulted in additional costs". Additional costs from 100 euros per vehicle can be expected. "Technically, it is not a problem to comply with the emission standards," says Mock.
  • Critics also pointed out that leading politicians have regularly spoken out against emissions restrictions at EU level in order to protect the German automotive industry. For example, Angela Merkel said at a meeting of the Federation of German Industries in 2007 that she would "do all I can" to combat stricter emissions in the EU.
  • The Federal Association for Renewable Energy stated: “The automotive industry made in Germany can only regain its credibility if it consistently focuses on environmental and climate protection. So far, customers around the world have combined innovation and climate protection with German products. Asian automakers are now in the fast lane. [...] Electric cars have no exhaust and cannot emit any harmful substances. However, they are only really clean if they are powered entirely by electricity from clean energy sources. "
  • The former president of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research , Hans-Werner Sinn , took VW under protection and sharply attacked the US automobile manufacturers who, in his opinion, had tried for decades to “reduce the small and efficient diesel engines for passenger cars by increasingly tightening nitrogen oxide emissions. Keeping borders out of the market because you didn't master the technology yourself. ”On the other hand, nothing has been done about the“ nitrogen oxide spinning of your own trucks ”.
  • The Cologne professor Axel Ockenfels and the American economist Peter Cramton pointed out that Volkswagen could buy a waiver of nitrogen oxide emissions and thus make amends: “If Volkswagen is serious about repairing the damage to the environment, then modern market mechanisms are available in order to achieve the corresponding emission avoidance, ”believe Ockenfels and Cramton. “If the Volkswagen Group cannot avoid pollutants quickly and efficiently itself, it would reward others for reducing the emission of a certain amount of pollutants. The group could buy exactly the emission avoidance that is necessary to compensate for the excessive emissions of the manipulated diesel. "
  • Ferdinand Dudenhöffer , holder of the chair for general business administration and automotive economics at the University of Duisburg-Essen, states that it is simply unthinkable that top managers were in the dark about the millionfold fraud: “The problem is neither typically in the automotive industry nor with diesel engines. The ethics at VW have failed. Therefore it needs a beginning from the outside. "
  • Gregor Hackmack , authorized representative of the non-governmental organization Parlamentwatch e. V., saw the VW exhaust scandal as a “description of the state of our political system”. Hackmack criticized what he saw as the close interweaving between the automotive industry and politics, which he attaches to politicians who switch to business after their political careers (or vice versa) and to the possibility of corporate donations to political parties.
  • Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn pointed out that the incident at VW brought new trust problems for the manufacturers. In his opinion, it should be difficult to keep the manipulation of emissions values ​​secret in-house. “I don't think you can hide something like that”.
  • Daimler boss Dieter Zetsche : "We basically adhere to the legal requirements and have not carried out any manipulations on our vehicles". Zetsche rejected the suspicion that all automobile manufacturers are a "collection of fraudsters".
  • Elon Musk , CEO of Tesla Motors : “We have reached the physical limits, there is hardly any room for improvement. VW engineers are likely to have been under massive pressure and have reached the limit of what is possible. Trick was probably the only option ”.
  • The Belgian vehicle importer D'Ieteren initially imposed a sales ban on 3200 VW diesel vehicles.
  • The Swiss VW general importer Amag ordered a sales stop for Audi, SEAT, Škoda and Volkswagen with EA189 engines.
  • On September 28, 2015, the Dutch importer Pon Dealer announced a precautionary sales stop for 4,100 diesel vehicles from the Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Škoda brands.
  • Markus Reiterer, technical director of the chip tuning company Digi-Tec intecno GmbH , told welt.de: “With all current engines, it is the case that they only comply with the consumption and exhaust gas specifications under very specific circumstances - this is an illusion in everyday use. [...] Many chip tuners offer to completely deactivate the exhaust gas cleaning systems - and a lot of customers ask for exactly that. "
  • The reactions to Volkswagen are divided. Some see the manipulation as a very clear fraud. However, there are also those who believe that such a fraud should not be declared a state affair. The manipulation at VW is in no relation to US scandals such as those at General Motors , which have represented an omnipresent danger to life and limb.
  • As part of the awarding of the Golden Steering Wheel award, the Green Steering Wheel award was not awarded in 2015 due to this affair.
  • 2016 Volkswagen the satirical connotations was Ig Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded the category for the solution d is the problem of increased emissions of pollutants in vehicles with automatic, electro-mechanical production of lower emissions, if the vehicles are tested.
  • In 2017, Volvo became the first manufacturer to announce the end of the diesel engine. The current generation of diesel engines is to be further developed. However, Volvo will not develop a new generation of diesel engines, the financial outlay is too high.
  • In September 2017, CEO Bernhard Maier announced that the Škoda Fabia will no longer be offered with diesel engines from 2018. The background to this is the expected rising costs for (manipulation-free) exhaust gas treatment (around 1,000 euros per vehicle) and the difficulty in enforcing price increases for small cars.
  • In 2018, Porsche , as the first German car company, announced the complete exit from the diesel vehicle business.

Consequences in the financial markets

The company's preferred shares listed in the DAX lost more than 20% of their value on the first trading day after the scandal became known. Together with the ordinary shares, the losses of which were in the same order of magnitude, this corresponded to a minus in market capitalization of € 15.8 billion. At close of trading on Monday, September 21, it was 18.6%.

After the announcement of the provisions for the exhaust gas affair, combined with a profit warning , and the admission that the software in question is in use in around eleven million vehicles, the price of the VW preference share fell by around 20% the next day within an hour. to the lowest level since October 2011. The price loss in these two trading days totaled 34.4%, based on the official Xetra closing price (5:45 p.m.) the value of the VW preference share fell from September 18 (Friday) to September 22, 2015 (Tuesday) from 161.65 euros to 106.00 euros. The downward trend continued - interrupted by brief recovery phases - in the following days. The preferred share reached its lowest price for the time being during the crisis on the morning of October 5, at EUR 86.36 shortly after the start of trading.

On October 12, 2015, the rating agency Standard & Poor’s lowered Volkswagen's creditworthiness from A to A- as a result of the emissions scandal and did not rule out further downgrades. On November 4, 2015, the US rating agency Moody's followed with a downgrade of the credit rating by one level from A2 to A3 and on November 10, 2015 Fitch Ratings with a reduction from A to BBB +.

Liability issues and legal position of buyers in Germany

To recall VW was initially not bound and could act voluntarily because of lack does not endanger the safety of the cars. Due to the official recall of the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), a voluntary repair is not sufficient. Volkswagen is therefore obliged to improve the vehicles. However, the recall notices do not apply to car owners or owners, as they are not even third parties affected by the KBA notices. In this respect, the recall will not work if the owner does not participate voluntarily. VW has no way of obliging car owners to participate; this could only be an authority.

In Germany, around 2.4 million vehicles from the car brands VW, Audi, Seat and Škoda are affected. The vehicle owners may also have claims from warranty or compensation . However, not against the VW group, but against their contractual partner, the vehicle dealer, who can probably not be accused of malice. In the case of new vehicles, the limitation period for liability for material defects is then two years (in the case of fraudulent intent it would be three years). Due to a limitation clause in the used vehicle trade that was declared ineffective by the Federal Court of Justice (judgment of April 29, 2015, file number VIII ZR 104/14), the liability for material defects should in many cases also be two years for used vehicle purchases by private individuals from the dealer. It could also be difficult to quantify and prove specific financial damage. Class actions and so-called punitive damages do not exist in German law.

The loss in value of the diesel vehicle, if the retrofitting of the technical prerequisites for compliance with the exhaust gas limits, the consumption increases and the performance decreases, could mean a reduction of the purchase price by ten percent or more and will most likely be decided in individual cases in court. The Kempten district court is the first to see a 10 percent decrease in value due to the scandal in a VW Tiguan.

The possible civil law claims of affected consumers against the manufacturer or the seller are the subject of first summary reports. A study by the Scientific Services of the German Bundestag (WD) on behalf of the Bundestag faction Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen assumes that, in addition to warranty claims against the sellers, there may also be claims for damages directly against the manufacturer. A legal opinion prepared on behalf of the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv) comes to similar conclusions. According to media reports, Volkswagen AG has made initial statements regarding the impending statute of limitations until December 31, 2016, to waive the raising of the statute of limitations with regard to any claims for material defects due to the software mentioned, provided that possible claims have not yet expired.

In addition to the civil law side, where buyers try to assert claims against manufacturers and sellers of the vehicles concerned, there is also a traffic management law . Some buyers have resisted the request from the Federal Motor Transport Authority to have the software updates carried out because they feared increased consumption and increased wear and tear on their vehicles. On August 17, 2018, the OVG Münster decided by two resolutions that the owners of these vehicles can be obliged to carry out software updates on their vehicles. The OVG Münster justifies this with the requirement of uniform application in order to enforce effective emission protection. With regard to securing the evidence to assert civil law claims, buyers are referred to the possibility of carrying out an independent evidence procedure before the update .

Legal disputes

Lawsuits in the United States

In the United States, the total amount of damage for Volkswagen could not initially be foreseen. Volkswagen itself initially assumed follow-up costs of around US $ 7–8 billion, but there were also speculations about significantly higher sums.

The United States Department of Justice filed a civil action in Detroit on January 4, 2016 against Volkswagen AG, Audi AG, Volkswagen Group of America Inc., Volkswagen Group of America Chattanooga Operations LLC, Porsche AG, and Porsche Cars North America Inc. for payment of 46 Billion US $ in damages.

In April 2016, Volkswagen increased its estimate for the expected costs to around US $ 18 billion (EUR 16.2 billion). On April 21, 2016, it became known that Volkswagen had reached an agreement in principle with regulatory authorities and private plaintiffs in the United States. Accordingly, the company undertook to submit a buyback offer for the approximately 475,000 2.0-liter diesel vehicles in the United States, make additional payments to an environmental fund and provide other means to promote environmentally friendly automotive technologies. This agreement only affected the United States and only 2.0-liter diesel cars. The total cost to Volkswagen was estimated at around US $ 15 billion.

According to individual analysts, the direct costs to be incurred by VW worldwide because of the emissions scandal were around 32 billion USD (28 billion EUR).

On December 20, 2016, Volkswagen reached an agreement on the 80,000 VW, Audi and Porsche vehicles with 3-liter diesel engines. The owners of these cars from the 2009 to 2016 series were promised “substantial compensation”. The cost to Volkswagen was estimated at around US $ 1 billion.

On January 10, 2017, an agreement between Volkswagen and the US regulatory authorities became known. Accordingly, Volkswagen is to pay US $ 4.3 billion in fines to the US authorities. The follow-up costs thus exceeded the amount originally estimated by Volkswagen. Nevertheless, analysts rated this as good news for Volkswagen, as the legal risks have finally been eliminated.

Lawsuits in Germany

In legal proceedings in Germany, criminal investigations must first be separated from civil law disputes. The civil actions are divided into the shareholder to the car manufacturers to support their claims to investment with legal regulations and the car buyers with Claims from the traffic civil law . The traffic civil claims are usually applied to the material defects in the purchase right (§§ 437ff BGB) and from tort (m BGB i. V. § 826 BGB, § 823. 2,. § 263 SCC) supported. It is not only the car manufacturers who are sued, but in some cases also the car dealers. As far as vehicles from subsidiaries of the VW group are concerned (e.g. Skoda, Audi, Seat, ...) at least some courts also consider Volkswagen AG to be the correct defendant because the engines at issue were developed and built by Volkswagen AG .

chronology
  • At the beginning of October 2015, the first claim for damages from Germany was brought against Volkswagen . An investor living in Germany is suing for a fee of 20,000 euros for the price losses suffered. On March 8, 2017, the Braunschweig Higher Regional Court designated DEKA Investment GmbH as the model plaintiff in the KapMuG proceedings under file number 3 Chapter 1/16. A test case is running in Braunschweig to clarify whether investors are entitled to compensation.
  • Also at the beginning of October 2015, a VW diesel buyer from Bochum filed a claim for damages against VW at the Braunschweig Regional Court . The claim was based on the fact that environmental friendliness was of particular importance in the purchase decision and that the vehicle's performance would deteriorate after the conversion that was now necessary.
  • In April 2016, a Würzburg law firm filed lawsuits for two affected vehicle owners. Another 50 or so lawsuits for damages or rescission of the purchase contract were planned by the end of 2016 [out of date] , according to the law firm .
  • The first legal proceedings against Volkswagen Bank have been ongoing since July 2016. Consumers accuse the bank of having used incorrect cancellation policy.
  • In the summer of 2016, a lung doctor from Leverkusen filed a criminal complaint against those responsible in the VW Group for harmful poisoning and commercial gang fraud , air pollution and serious bodily harm . The Braunschweig public prosecutor confirmed receipt of the complaint on November 19, 2016.
  • In August and September 2016, the federal states of Bavaria , Hesse and Baden-Württemberg filed a lawsuit against Volkswagen.
  • In February 2017, a first lawsuit was filed against Audi against the new allegations. Audi is accused of using software on gasoline vehicles that leads to deception.
  • The Detmold Regional Court issued the most consumer-friendly judgment. The consumer is entitled to a new delivery without having to pay compensation for use. The district courts of Zwickau, Offenburg, Regensburg and Arnsberg have meanwhile awarded the plaintiffs new deliveries, mostly without payment of a usage fee.
  • The consumer protection platform myRight leads an association of well over 10,000 consumers in Germany and Austria against VW, in which the plaintiffs only give part of the profit to cover costs instead of attorney and court costs if the lawsuit is successful. The myRight procedure is the only procedure in Germany in which the affected motorists can participate online without any cost risks. According to Stiftung Warentest, it is therefore particularly suitable for consumers. However, according to some legal scholars, there are also cost risks and imponderables of this collective procedure to be considered, which could be immeasurable for the injured party. It is therefore also warned against this model. The office of the American lawyer Michael Hausfeld represents consumers. Hausfeld had already negotiated the settlement with VW in the USA.
  • There are now several judgments at regional court level in which buyers have been given a right of return.
  • In April 2017, a higher regional court ruled the VW emissions scandal for the first time. After the Traunstein Regional Court had initially dismissed a lawsuit regarding a resignation, the dealer paid the claim of the injured party in the appeal court. The Munich Higher Regional Court, 3 U 4316/16 only had to decide on the costs of the proceedings. It put the cost of the procedure on the dealer. The Munich Higher Regional Court announced that the manipulated vehicle was defective. The Higher Regional Court clearly stated that the judgment of the Traunstein Regional Court would not have remained in this form, which is why the costs are to be borne by the dealer. The dealer must be attributed to the behavior of VW in the repair. It is mainly the first higher regional court decision nationwide.
  • Stiftung Warentest reports continuously on the proceedings and provides a list of consumer-friendly judgments.
  • In February 2017, Fischmanufaktur Deutsche See became the first major German customer to file a lawsuit against VW in the amount of 11.9 million euros. The lawsuit was dismissed in the first instance by the Braunschweig Regional Court on October 27, 2017. Deutsche See initially appealed against this judgment, but withdrew it in January 2018.
  • At the end of July 2017, the Stuttgart Administrative Court ruled that air pollution in Stuttgart had to be contained with the help of driving bans. Up to now, the retrofits planned by the automobile manufacturers are not sufficient because they are not effective enough. Because of the "fundamental importance of the matter", the court allowed appeal or revision.
  • At the end of July 2017, the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND) filed criminal charges with the public prosecutor's offices in Berlin, Stuttgart, Munich and Hamburg: on suspicion of deliberate air pollution through nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel vehicles. The criminal charges were directed against board members and senior employees at Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, Daimler and BMW, as the organization announced. Those in charge of the car companies are responsible for high health and environmental pollution.
  • The Diesel judgment was pronounced on February 27, 2018 .
  • In August 2018 it became known that the Bavarian judiciary was examining the feasibility of custody against members of the Bavarian state government. The background to this is that the Bavarian government generally denies the possibility of driving bans in order to comply with the nitrogen oxide limit values. The courts had previously ruled that driving bans must be possible and the state government set a deadline for implementation until the end of 2017. So far, the government has let this pass. Even after the imposition of fines, the government stuck to its refusal to implement the court orders. Ministers such as Environment Minister Marcel Huber or Prime Minister Markus Söder could be affected by the detention .
  • The Berlin Administrative Court ruled on October 9, 2018, following a lawsuit brought by Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) against the Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection , that the previous clean air plan 2011-2017 for Berlin should be updated by March 31, 2019 at the latest so that it contains necessary measures for the fastest possible compliance with the limit value for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations of 40 µg / m³ in the urban area of ​​Berlin, which has been in force since 2010. Motor vehicles with diesel engines complying with the Euro 1 to Euro 5 emission standards are subject to a driving ban in 11 particularly stressful road sections. Including for parts of Leipziger Strasse , Friedrichstrasse , Reinhardtstrasse, Brückenstrasse, Kapweg, Stromstrasse, Leonorenstrasse and Alt-Moabit Street . In order to improve the air, the DUH wanted to obtain driving bans for older diesels within the Berlin S-Bahn ring and on some other streets. Berlin must have implemented diesel driving bans in at least eleven street sections by the end of June 2019.
  • In June 2019, Volkswagen was defeated at the Koblenz Higher Regional Court against a buyer and announced the route to the Federal Court of Justice.
  • The Düsseldorf Regional Court ruled in August 2019 that the exhaust gas cleaning system was inadequate after the update.
  • At the end of August 2019, according to Volkswagen, there were still 62,000 open lawsuits from buyers in German civil courts, and 38,000 judgments had already been made. At the Cologne Higher Regional Court , VW cases accounted for 38 percent of all appeal proceedings, 42 percent at the Hamm Higher Regional Court and a good 33 percent at the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court (1480 proceedings, 600 of which have been settled elsewhere, no decision has yet been made).
  • The proceedings for the model declaratory action brought by over 450,000 plaintiffs before the Braunschweig Higher Regional Court began on September 30, 2019. In August 2019, the folders were filled with 67,000 pages.
    • In the VW model declaratory action, Volkswagen and the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (VZBV) reached an agreement in April 2020 before the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) decided on the diesel scandal in May 2020. 200,000 to 260,000 victims who bought a car by December 31, 2015 and who joined the VZBV's model declaratory action will be reimbursed 15 percent of the original purchase price if they agree to the settlement. Depending on the vehicle type and model year, this is between 1350 and 6257 euros. Any claims that arise due to the withdrawal of the operating license for the cars or offered hardware retrofits remain unaffected. Those who did not have their car or their place of residence in Germany at the time of purchase are excluded from the offer. Overall, the settlement, which was confirmed on April 20, 2020, has a volume of 620 million euros and will be paid out on May 5, 2020. In numerous individual lawsuit proceedings, courts also award claims for damages to those buyers who bought after 01.01.2016. For example, the Stuttgart Regional Court has, in another proceeding, sentenced both Volkswagen AG and Audi AG to repay almost the entire purchase price to the owner of an Audi. The Hanseatic Higher Regional Court of Bremen also ruled that Volkswagen AG had to pay damages despite the late purchase in 2016.
Argumentation of those involved in the VW processes

The main legal issue of the legal dispute was whether the original exhaust system is still a material defect within the meaning of Section 434 of the German Civil Code (BGB) even after an update . In some cases it was argued that there was a material defect because 1. there was a threat of withdrawal from road traffic by the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) according to Section 19 Road Traffic Licensing Regulations (StVZO), 2. there was an increased consumption and 3. also Long-term damage from the software update is to be feared. These circumstances had a significant negative impact on the resale value. With these deviations of the actual properties of the vehicle from their target, the buyer would already have suffered damage because he had concluded an unwanted sales contract which he would not have concluded if he had known the actual properties of the vehicle. The opposing view took the view that the approval should only be based on the time of purchase and that with the fulfillment of the Euro 5 standard , withdrawal is not likely in the near future. With regard to increased consumption, the only thing that matters is that the laboratory values ​​are met at the time of purchase. Even if these are not realistic, they would have been the valid yardstick at the time of purchase. The KBA does not assume that the update will cause long-term damage, which is why an update is reasonable as a repair and, at least after the update, there is no longer any material defect. If the user or buyer has made a conscious decision in favor of a “discontinued model” in the knowledge of an imminent model change, the seller's obligation to procure should be limited to this model version in the opinion of the OLG Koblenz . In the opinion of the Higher Regional Court Koblenz, warranty claims against the vehicle dealer are subject to a two-year limitation period, even if control software classified as inadmissible causes a defect because there is a risk of official prohibition of operation. The longer limitation period only applies if the dealer has fraudulently concealed the defect. However, malice on the part of the manufacturer cannot be attributed to the dealer.

Insofar as claims are asserted not only from liability for material defects, but also from tortious acts, intentional damage that is immoral (Section 826 BGB) comes into consideration if the deception about the actual exhaust gas values ​​(associated with no impending driving bans and no discount for resale) is decisive for the buyer were to enter into the sales contract. In contrast to the warranty claims in sales law, which expire two years after the purchased item has been handed over (§ 438 Paragraph 1 No. 3 & BGB), claims from intentional and immoral damage are subject to the standard statute of limitations in accordance with § 195 BGB, which starts from knowledge of the deception by the creditor begins (§ 199 Paragraph 1 No. 2 BGB). The Trier Regional Court even assumes that the statute of limitations in these cases only begins once the Federal Court of Justice has made a decision of the highest court that is clear. Furthermore, in the exhaust gas scandal cases, it is discussed whether the manufacturer is behaving that was at least known to the management board and is therefore attributable to the manufacturer. Some courts assess whether the actions are being conducted secrecy, in particular whether the manufacturer knew of the discrepancy between the specified and actual emission values ​​and nevertheless continued to advertise the vehicles as environmentally friendly with the original values. A conditional resolution on the part of the manufacturer should be sufficient to assume immorality. If this is presented for the buyer, many courts see a secondary burden of presentation and proof for the manufacturer that the management board had no knowledge of the manipulation. Some decisions in favor of the plaintiffs are based essentially on the fact that the manufacturers have not met this secondary burden of presentation and proof of the lack of knowledge of the board of directors. For some courts, liability on the part of the manufacturer in accordance with Section 31 of the German Civil Code (BGB) can be considered even without the management board's knowledge of the manipulations if, due to organizational deficiencies, employees below the management board level were able to make a decision on the deployment freely and without the involvement of the management board. Some courts intensively ask complaining consumers what their motives were when concluding the sales contract for the diesel car and whether they were aware of the emissions problems at that time or should have known about them through reports. This can lead to the fact that the court no longer accepts any deception by the manufacturer if the plaintiff is aware of the problem at the time of purchase . Whether it depends on abstract knowledge of the buyer (... should have known ...) or on concrete knowledge is still controversial. In practice, this is significant in cases in which plaintiffs can make credible that they did not perceive any reports on this issue, at least in the first few months after the emissions problem first became known. On the plaintiff's side, more intensive inquiries from the court or the defendant's representatives are often countered with the argument that an exact determination of the purchase motive is not important because a buyer had to assume that the vehicle on offer also met the required emissions regulations. The OLG Oldenburg rejected a deception of the plaintiff due to the ad hoc announcement from VW on September 22, 2015 as logically impossible in a purchase in autumn 2017. The OLG Dresden went on a sale in early June 2016 that the exhaust problem must have been known since at least six months and therefore would not deceive the buyer into consideration. The registration and deregistration for the model declaratory action with a retrospective inhibiting effect of the statute of limitations is not abusive according to the LG Kiel if (as here several months) there is a sufficient time interval between registration and deregistration.

If the plaintiffs are successful in their application to reverse the purchase contract, most courts will deduct compensation for use from the purchase price to be reimbursed at the plaintiff's expense. Since July 2019, however, there has also been a higher court decision by the Stuttgart Higher Regional Court in which the plaintiff was awarded a new delivery without having to object to compensation for use. The courts use different total mileage as a basis for the proportionate calculation of the compensation for use, usually between 250,000 and 300,000 kilometers. For example, if the buyer has paid 45,000 euros for the vehicle and driven 100,000 kilometers by the end of the oral hearing, a third, i.e. 15,000 euros, will be deducted from the purchase price reimbursement. In some cases, by way of a settlement, the buyers waived their possible claim to a step-by-step reversal of the purchase contract in return for a compensation payment. The interest claim on the main claim for damages, which is often asserted in the lawsuits pursuant to Section 849 of the German Civil Code, is usually not awarded by the courts because the vehicles could be used by the plaintiffs. At least in those cases in which financing costs are also claimed for the purchase of the vehicle at issue, the courts will reject a statutory interest claim asserted in parallel.

In some lawsuits, the question of whether the purchase of a motor vehicle should be viewed as an investment and therefore a " prospectus liability" is disputed .

Decisions of the Federal Court of Justice on the diesel scandal in the VW processes

In January 2019, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) determined for the first time in a notification that the defeat devices in diesel engines were defective in accordance with. Section 434 Paragraph 1 Clause 2 No. 2 BGB. In the case of such vehicles, withdrawal from road traffic should be considered. In the ruling, the BGH tended that the buyer of an affected vehicle was not denied the right to a replacement delivery of a vehicle that was as good as new because the manufacturer had changed models in the meantime. Whether, as in this case, the buyer of a new first-generation Tiguan can only have a second-generation Tiguan delivered is irrelevant. The seller can refuse the replacement delivery if this is associated with disproportionate costs. In this notification decision, the BGH left it open as to whether the recall campaign to get the engines in a proper condition at no cost to the buyer is sufficient to meet the buyer's claims. With a decision of January 28, 2020, the BGH decided that a request for evidence by a plaintiff by means of an expert opinion to prove the presence of one or more inadmissible disconnection devices is not an inadmissible "investigation evidence" that only has to be accepted in the absence of any factual evidence.

In a hearing on May 5, 2020, the BGH indicated that it was provisionally tending to assume damage to the buyer of a vehicle with a defeat device when the contract was concluded. On May 25, 2020, the BGH considered the claim for damages against VW AG for a buyer of a manipulated VW diesel car to be justified. VW have to pay damages for immoral willful damage ( § 826 BGB) and to refund the purchase price against return of the car. In doing so, the buyer must, however, have the benefit of the previous uses offset against the kilometers driven so far. With the rulings of July 30, 2020, the BGH established a number of further principles: In contrast to the aforementioned old cases, in which the vehicle was bought before the diesel scandal became known since September 22, 2015, the BGH reported deliberate damage that is immoral denied a purchase after it became known. This applies in particular if the first potentially damaging act and the occurrence of the damage coincide and the injuring party has in the meantime noticeably changed his behavior. In cases in which there is immoral, deliberate damage, the use of the vehicle compensates for the non-use of the money paid for the vehicle, which is why no tort interest should be awarded in accordance with § 849 BGB. In addition, the compensation for use of the vehicle could also fully compensate for the compensation, so that there would be no compensation remaining. The BGH, on the other hand, overturned a decision by the Braunschweig Higher Regional Court, according to which the damage caused by deliberately immoral damage caused by a software update is no longer applicable. This is not compatible with the meaning of the standard.

Legal disputes against Daimler AG

The Federal Court of Justice has scheduled an oral hearing for October 27, 2020, which concerns the claims for damages of a Mercedes-Benz owner who suspects an inadmissible defeat device in his car.

Lawsuits in France

Litigation against BMW

In the lawsuits against BMW AG, it is fundamentally not about a shutdown device on the test bench, but about the permissibility of a so-called thermal window . Both the admissibility of a thermal window and the question of whether, even if it is assumed to be inadmissible, it also represents intentional immoral damage on which the buyer and plaintiff could base his claims are still controversial. In April 2020, the General Prosecutor of the European Court of Justice , Eleanor Sharpston , assessed defeat devices in diesel vehicles as generally inadmissible if they are not necessary to protect the engine from direct damage or to ensure the safety of the respective car. Delaying wear and tear or soiling, however, does not justify the use of a shutdown device. A judgment in the proceedings is still pending. As in the VW cases, a uniform practice of jurisprudence could only develop over time.

Lawsuits in Austria

In Austria, the Association for Consumer Information (VKI) filed 16 class actions in the respective regional courts against VW AG for 9,872 injured car owners in September 2018 . Since a lawsuit usually has to be brought where the defendant is domiciled, the Klagenfurt Regional Court asked the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in April 2019 whether it had jurisdiction at all. The ECJ ruled on July 9, 2020 that claims for damages can be made in the country where the car is bought. The reasoning states that although the vehicles were already “defective” when the manipulating software was installed, the “damage was not realized” until the vehicle was purchased.

Lawsuits in Switzerland

In Switzerland, the cantonal public prosecutor's offices and the federal prosecutor's office have decided to bring all complaints to the federal prosecutor's office together in order to achieve a nationwide solution. As of October 29, 2015, around 600 criminal complaints had been received from private individuals. On December 29, 2017, the Foundation for Consumer Protection filed a claim for damages for around 6,000 Swiss car owners at the Commercial Court in Zurich.

Lawsuits in South Korea

In the course of October 2015, 226 lawsuits were filed by VW customers, as well as one class action lawsuit by 101 Audi owners.

Lawsuits in the UK

On January 9, 2017, a class action lawsuit was filed by 10,000 Volkswagen owners for a total of £ 30 million in compensation.

Lawsuits in Australia

Volkswagen has agreed to a settlement in a class action lawsuit that costs the group € 79 million. This is intended to compensate around 100,000 car owners. The Australian consumer protection agency ACCC has also sued, a result is still pending.

Possible impact on diesel vehicle sales

On October 20, 2015, VW Group Works Council chief Bernd Osterloh said there were still no signs that the emissions scandal had had a negative impact on sales.

The proportion of diesel vehicles in the passenger car sector varies greatly from region to region. Between 1995 and 2009, the share in Europe increased from 14% to 33%, while in Japan it fell from an original 11% to 1.4% over the same period. In the USA the share grew from 0.3% (2000) to 1.3% (2011). VW had a passenger car diesel market share of around 90% in the USA in 2014.

Analysts in the United States see the future of the diesel engine in the passenger car sector in general being called into question. This was justified by the fact that VW was the largest manufacturer of passenger car diesel engines in the USA and that all of the technology was now being compromised.

The limit values ​​for nitrogen oxides can be technically adhered to with the NO x storage catalytic converter and for larger engines with the SCR catalytic converter , which was already used in Japanese waste incineration plants in 1974. Proponents of diesel technology point to lower fuel consumption than gasoline engines and lower CO 2 emissions. However, this information is controversial. With comparable models and modern gasoline engines, the difference in terms of CO 2 emissions largely disappears . For example, since the turn of the century, Japanese emissions have been reduced significantly more than European ones thanks to improved gasoline engines and hybrids. Compared to electric cars , the relative environmental balance of diesel vehicles depends heavily on the size of the vehicle and the electricity mix. Particularly with large vehicles and a high proportion of coal-fired electricity, there are advantages for diesel vehicles.

According to the consulting company Accenture , diesel engines will become considerably more expensive in the future due to the technology required for exhaust gas cleaning and the stricter limit values ​​and measurement methods. This significantly reduces the cost disadvantage of electric vehicles. Hybrid passenger cars would soon also be cheaper to maintain than diesel vehicles. In particular, small cars with diesel engines and low mileage would become even more unprofitable than before.

Problems with non-German companies

In April 2016, Mitsubishi , Japan’s sixth largest automobile manufacturer , announced that it had manipulated the consumption figures of its models. 625,000 cars, including 468,000 of two models for Nissan , are affected.

The Federal Ministry of Transport accuses Fiat of using an illegal defeat device. The timer, which switches off the exhaust gas cleaning after the test cycle, was discovered in Fiat models in May 2017 by research at the Ruhr University Bochum .

Past tampering with emissions tests and devices

The VW exhaust scandal is not the first case of tampering with exhaust emissions tests:

  • As early as 1974, VW paid a fine of US $ 120,000 for violating the Clean Air Act . Four 1973 models from VW used temperature sensors to adjust the emissions without this having been stated in the registration. VW paid as part of an out-of-court settlement with the EPA, there was no recall. In the same year, the EPA found similar defeat devices that are dependent on the ambient temperature at Chrysler , Ford , General Motors and Toyota .
  • In 1995, General Motors was committed to a fine of 11 million and donations of 9 million US dollars and had to recall 470,000 Cadillac vehicles with the models Deville , Eldorado , Fleetwood and Seville and convert them for 25 million dollars after it was announced that the control software disabled its emission control functions if the vehicle was not in a test bench environment. This was determined by whether the air conditioner was on or not. GM denied the allegations and pointed to the scope for interpretation of the regulations. While the settlement with the EPA on the fines was out of court, the recall was ordered by the court, making this the first case in which this was done for environmental reasons.
  • In 1998, Ford Motor Company was required to pay a total of $ 7.8 million after it became known that 60,000 Ford Econoline (1997 model) panel vans were performing properly during the EPA's 20-minute test bench routine, but in normal operation on the Street deactivated all software-related functions for emission control and thus exceeded the permitted exhaust emissions. The cost consisted of a $ 2.5 million penalty and purchase of carbon credits, a $ 1.3 million recall, and $ 1.5 million donations to environmental protection projects.
  • Also in 1998, Honda pledged to the EPA fines of $ 17.1 million and retrofits worth at least $ 250 million because of expenses in 1.6 million vehicles ( Accord , Civic , Prelude , Odyssey and Acura ) a misfire detection system has been deactivated.
  • In a third case in 1998, seven truck and truck diesel engine manufacturers ( Caterpillar , Cummins Engine , Detroit Diesel , Mack Trucks , Navistar , Renault Trucks, and Volvo Trucks ) fined a total of $ 83.4 million because 1.3 million vehicles were equipped with a defeat device which, controlled by software, ensured that emission limits were only complied with during the EPA tests. The seven manufacturers agreed with the EPA to spend around one billion dollars on the necessary conversions.
  • In 2007, up to 60,000 out of a total of 170,000 diesel particulate filters retrofitted in Germany proved to be ineffective. The German Environmental Aid Association had earlier accused the Federal Environment Ministry to have reacted too late for a whole year on a Swiss report, which had demonstrated the ineffectiveness of many filter sound. Axel Friedrich was involved in the clarification of this case, and he also contributed to the exposure of the 2015 emissions scandal.

Health consequences of the increased emissions

Diesel vehicles emit by a factor of 4 to 7 more nitrogen oxides in real driving operation than in the type approval tests. As a result, incorrect estimates for the contribution of road traffic to the air limit values ​​were used for years .

In total, almost a third of the diesel vehicles used for heavy haulage and more than half of the diesel vehicles used for light transport in the most important markets exceed the applicable limit values, which according to an estimate from 2017 leads to around 38,000 premature deaths worldwide. A Norwegian-Austrian study from 2017 estimated the premature deaths from the emissions scandal for Europe at 5000 cases annually.

The excessive pollutant emissions of the VW models and the resulting damage to health and premature deaths resulted in costs of 39 billion US dollars in Europe and the USA alone in the period 2009-2015, most of them in Europe. Depending on whether and how quickly the affected vehicles are recalled and repaired, this number can rise to over $ 100 billion. At the beginning of 2017 it was estimated that, on average, premature deaths with a total of around 29,000 years of life lost and health costs of 4.1 billion euros (value in 2015) could be avoided if all affected vehicles in Germany were converted by the end of the year so that they comply with the exhaust gas limit values .

See also

literature

  • Kai Borgeest: manipulation of exhaust gas values . 1st edition. Springe, Wiesbaden 2017, ISBN 978-3-658-17180-3 .
  • Jack Ewing: Growth above all else. The VW scandal. The people. The technology. The backgrounds. Droemer, Munich 2017, ISBN 978-3-426-27704-1 . (With photos and notes)
  • Jack Ewing: Faster, Higher, Farther. The Volkswagen Scandal. WW Norton & Company, New York 2017, ISBN 978-0-393-25450-1 . (American original edition)
  • Pierre Hauck: The fraud offense of § 263 StGB on the cliffs of internationalization: USA, UK, EU. Journal of Commercial and Tax Criminal Law (wistra) 2017, p. 457 ff.

Broadcast reports

Web links

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