Germany’s KBA Forces Recall Of Volkswagen Touareg SUVs Due To Illegal Defeat Devices

A new recall of diesel-powered Volkswagen Touareg SUVs, due to the presence of illegal “defeat devices” intended to defraud regulators, has been ordered by Germany’s auto industry watchdog the KBA reportedly.

Apparently 2 separate “illicit emissions control devices” have been discovered in the newest generation of 3-liter diesel Volkswagen Touaregs — with the recall relating to 25,800 units sold in Germany to date (57,600 units of the model in question have been sold worldwide), according to the KBA (as quoted by Reuters).

The email read: “Two inadmissable switch-off devices were found upon examination of the VW Touareg 3.0-litre diesel Euro 6 by the Federal Motor Vehicle Authority.”

This news follows on a recall in Europe of ~22,000 Porsche Cayenne SUVs back in July following a similar discovery (of defeat devices). This makes you wonder: What else have VW Group execs yet to come clean about?

Reuters provides more: “New evidence of Volkswagen’s deployment of defeat devices continues to emerge more than 2 years after its emissions-test cheating scandal exploded in the United States. Europe’s biggest carmaker has been working to draw a line under the affair.

“…KBA said that an emissions-lowering ‘warming-up strategy’ that got activated on the Touareg model when the vehicle was examined in static roller-bed tests carried out under the new European driving cycle (NEFZ) did not, for the most part, go into operation in road testing.

“Also, KBA said that on Touareg models fitted with costlier selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems, it detected a strategy that, under certain conditions, illegally restricts the use of AdBlue, a urea-based liquid needed to help filter nitrogen oxides from diesel emissions.”

The KBA also noted in its email to Reuters that VW has “adjusted production of the Touareg and developed a new engine software to help fix the affected vehicles.”

An interesting statement…the relationship between supposed regulators in Germany and the country’s auto industry always seems to leave one scratching their head…how long has the KBA actually known about this issue?

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