VW News: As the Diesel Emits: CARB Extends Deadline For Volkswagen Diesel Fix To January 14th

[William Maley]

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The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has given Volkswagen a reprieve on the diesel emission scandal. According to Reuters, CARB has extended the deadline to approve or reject Volkswagen's fix for the nearly 500,000 vehicles with the cheating 2.0L TDI to January 14, 2016. The reason for the extension is Volkswagen continued to submit "significant information and data" about the repair effort for the affected models since submitting the proposed fix back on November 20th.

 

VW spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan tells Reuters the German automaker continues "to fully cooperate with EPA and CARB as we work to develop an approved remedy as quickly as possible."

 

Volkswagen has said previously that newer TDI vehicles will need only a software upgrade to fix the issue, while older models might need some new equipment to go along with the upgrade.

 

Source: Reuters, CARB

 

Press Release is on Page 2

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UPDATE: CARB sends VW letter on proposed recall plan
CARB to act on or before January 14, 2016
SACRAMENTO - As the result of submissions by VW over the past week, CARB sent VW America a letter indicating that it would act on the proposed recall plan on or before January 14, 2016.
The letter follows below, and can be found at: http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/vw_info/vw_diesel_info.htm
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December 18, 2015
David GeanacopoulosExecutive Vice President Public Affairs and General Counsel
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.2200 Ferdinand Porsche Drive
Herndon, Virginia [email protected]
Subject: Volkswagen 2.0 L Recall Plan Submission
Dear Mr. Geanacopoulos:
As a result of Volkswagen Group of America's (VW) continued submission of additional significant information and data to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) as part of VW's proposed 2.0L influenced emission recall plan (Title 13, Cal. Code Regs. § 2113) --- including information VW submitted in writing on December 14, 2015, and verbally as recently as December 16, 2015 --- CARB plans to act on your proposed 2.0L influenced emission recall plan on or before January 14, 2016.
Mr. Stuart Johnson, on behalf of VW, discussed this issue with me earlier this week. Please confirm in writing to me, no later than noon Pacific Time, Monday, December 21, 2015, that VW has no objection to CARB's planned response date of on or before January 14, 2016.
As you know, VW submitted a December 15, 2015, request for an extension to submit VW's supplemental, proposed 2.0L influenced emission recall plan to CARB. CARB will also respond to this extension request on or before January 14, 2016.
If you have any questions, I can be reached at (626) 450-6150.
Sincerely,
Annette Hebert, Chief
Emissions Compliance, Automotive Regulations, and Science Division

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[David]

Sounds like VW is finding more and more areas that have been affected by the Diesel scandal and this will cause the EPA and CARB to push back the fix deadline again. I expect this will not move forward to fix till spring 2016.