Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 21 October 2015

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications

Emissions Readings for Volkswagen Cars: Discussion

9:30 am

Mr. Lars Himmer:

Who did it is still an open question. The Volkswagen board and the management board of our company have said we will co-operate fully because we want to find out as well the who, why and how. These are fundamental questions and we have the same interest in finding answers. Knowing that would enable us to ensure it does not happen again and also how to move forward. We do not have a name today. The investigations are ongoing. They are ongoing with a legal company that is looking internally and also at authorities. I do not have any insights on how that is going or how much progress has been made or if that investigation will be finished at a certain point but I hope it will come quickly and that we get those answers. The public needs it, the committee needs it and we need it as well. My understanding is that it is internal software. I do not know of others being involved.

I would like to add a little to help understand the complexity of the case. Three different engines are impacted out of a total of approximately 11 million - three engines of 1.2 litre, 1.6 litre and 2 litres. There is different software from different suppliers on the three engines. Each engine is delivered to five different brands. Each engine has different transmission systems. The variations are very high. The complexity is high. It is not a box that is put on the car on-off switch. It is something that is in the software that makes it difficult. Unfortunately, that is why today we do not have the full solution for all of them but it is the solution that is coming engine by engine.

I do not have any comments about the industry. I have no reason to believe it did it.

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