Porsche Halts Cayenne Diesel Sales As EPA Adds More Vehicles to Investigation

The VW emissions scandal continues to grow, with the company receiving a second notice of violation this month adding more cars to their unlawful emissions list.

Porsche, in turn, is attempting to avoid more potential problems, announcing they will stop selling the Porsche Cayenne diesel in the U.S.

Porsche explained their reasoning for stopping U.S. Cayenne sales by saying, “Porsche Car North America, Inc. today decided, in view of the unexpected U.S. EPA notice received yesterday, to voluntarily discontinue sales of model year 2014 through 2016 Porsche Cayenne diesel vehicles until further notice. We are working intensively to resolve this matter as soon as possible. Customers may continue to operate their vehicles normally.”

The EPA’s second notice of violation stated that more Volkswagen Group models were found to have defeat device software. These newly-listed vehicles have a 3.0-liter V6 diesel engine. The previous group of cars named by the EPA included about 482,000 VW and Audi vehicles from model years 2009 to 2015 were equipped with a four-cylinder powertrain.

As with models implicated previously, the Porsche Cayenne, VW and Audi models on the latest EPA notice were also said to have the defeat device allowing the vehicle’s software to detect when the vehicles are in an emission testing situation.

During testing, the emissions change to “cheat the system” so to speak; when driven under actual road conditions, the cars emit up to forty times the allowed amount of pollution, according to the EPA.

Initially, Porsche claimed to be “surprised” by the latest EPA finding and stated the company believed that the Cayenne diesel was “fully compliant” with emissions guidelines.

VW Diesel and Gasoline Cars Have Additional Issues Outside the U.S.

As if the U.S. diesel emission issues weren’t enough for VW, new reports have surfaced about regular gas cars in Europe and other areas outside the U.S. The latest implications mention carbon dioxide levels (in contrast to the nitrous oxide levels in the diesel scandal) and how they have been set too low during CO2 testing.

During VW’s internal investigations, “irregularities were found” with respect to CO2 levels, affecting 800,000 vehicles. This could cost VW another $2 billion dollars. These irregularities were found on “mostly diesel” vehicles, but implied gasoline models were also included.

EPA Emissions Investigation Includes More Vehicles

Between the September 18 notice of violation and the November 18 notice by the EPA regarding diesel emissions, a total of 12 models of cars are affected that span across eight model years. The most recent list of affected vehicles include:

If you owned or leased any of the Audi, Porsche, or VW vehicles listed above, you may have a legal claim and may be eligible for legal compensation. Lawyers are investigating the possibility of an Audi, Porsche and Volkswagen class action lawsuit against the manufacturers of the alleged environmentally noncompliant vehicles.

UPDATE: On June 28, 2016, Volkswagen reached proposed settlements with both the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission following the VW emissions scandal. VW’s deal with the DOJ includes up to $14.7 billion along with vehicle buyback provisions as well as funding for pollution control programs. In addition to the DOJ settlement, Volkswagen will also spend up to $10 billion in a buyback and lease termination settlement with the FTC that is expected to include about 475,000 vehicles.