Reports from Germany suggest that Volkswagen has met the government-imposed deadline to provide fixes for engines affected by the emissions scandal that has damaged the company.
Around 2.5-million vehicles fitted with 1.2-, 1.6- and 2-liter EA189 engines are affected in the country, and recall notices will be issued to owners in January. It is expected that changes to the 1.2- and 2-liter engines are limited to software updates that will take less than half an hour to install, but the 1.6-liter units will require a hardware fix in the air filter system as well as the software patch, which could take up to an hour to rectify.
Volkswagen describes the part as a ‘flow transformer’, which will be fitted directly in front of the air mass sensor on the 1.6-liter to calm the swirled air flow in front of the sensor and will thus decisively improve measuring accuracy.
The company says that the air mass sensor determines the current air mass throughput, an important parameter for the engine management for an optimum combustion process.
Overall, Volkswagen estimates that 11 million vehicles worldwide are implicated in the NOx emissions testing problems, and the company recently admitted to under-reporting CO₂ figures on a further 800,000 vehicles, including Volkswagen Group cars fitted with 3-liter V6 diesel engines.
December 2, 2015