Volkswagen Management Knew of Emission Test Cheats Month Before Scandal

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Volkswagen's management had knowledge of emission test rigging as early as August 2015, a month prior to the start of the public scandal, German media reported Sunday.

Friedrich Eichler, the chief of Volkswagen's powertrain development, was given the task of revealing rigged software details to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) late August, the Bild newspaper reported.

Passing details of the software rigging to the EPA on September 3, Eichler acted on orders given by the company's then research and development chief Heinz-Jakob Neusser, a Volkswagen spokesman told the newspaper. A US investigation into the material was later published on November 18. Neusser has since been dismissed from his post and subjected to a fraud investigation.

The Volkswagen emission scandal became public when the EPA accused the German automaker of using software to falsify emission test results for its diesel-engine cars. Up to 11 million diesel engine Volkswagen vehicles worldwide manufactured over the last six years are estimated to have been programmed to produce false test results for nitrogen oxide emissions.