Volkswagen Must Recall 500,000 Cars, May Have to Pay $18 Billion Fine for Lying to EPA

Volkswagen may face fines totaling $18 billion and must recall nearly 500,000 diesel cars because it was found the company deliberately tried to mislead environmental regulators with a special software fix.

The company installed software that limited emissions when cars were undergoing emissions tests, but when the cars were driven normally, the emissions control was turned off, according to Reuters. The software made it seem as though the cars complied with federal emissions regulations when in fact they did not. The cars are said to have been creating dangerous emissions 40 times those allowed by regulations.

The company could have to pay $37,500 for each car that is determined to have violated the law and there are 482,000 VW and Audis that are said to be under suspicion, meaning the company would end up having to pay $18 billion in fines to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The New York Times reports that as a result of the deception, the Obama Administration has invoked its authority to make VW recall all of the cars in question, which were manufactured between 2009 and 2015.

The emissions the software masked were nitrogen oxide, which is a major contributor to smog. Its impacts to public health include asthma, respiratory diseases, and premature death.

When emissions control technology is in effect, it can impact a car's acceleration and torque, so by turning off the technology when a car is in regular may have been part of an effort to make VW cars seem better than they actually are.

VW models involved include the Golf, Beetle, Jetta, and Passat while the Audi A3 was implicated in the scandal.