Germany’s KBA automotive watchdog on Tuesday revealed a recall of Volkswagen‘s flagship European sport-utility vehicles (SUV) with 3-litre diesel motor after discovering two illegal emissions control devices in the models.
The new proof of Volkswagen’s deployment of defeat gadgets continues to emerge over two years after its emissions-test dieselgate took off in the United States. Europe’s biggest automaker has been working to draw a line under the affair.
The recall of the Touareg model of the recent Euro 6 diesel generation was ordered on December 8 and impacts 57,600 models worldwide, about half or 25,800 of which in Volkswagen’s (VW) German house market, the KBA informed by email.
“Two inadmissable switch-off devices were found upon assessment of the VW Touareg 3.0-litre diesel Euro 6 by the Federal Motor Vehicle Authority,” it stated.
The move follows a recall by German officials in July of 22,000 Porsche Cayenne SUVs in Europe, the Touareg’s sister model that shares the same modular platform as well as utilizes the 3.0 litre engine developed by premium Volkswagen stable mate Audi.
KBA stated that an emissions-lowering “warming-up strategy” that got triggered on the Touareg model when the vehicle was examined in static roller-bed tests performed under the new European driving cycle (NEFZ) did not, for the most part, enter into operation in road testing.
Likewise, KBA stated that on Touareg models fitted with more expensive selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems, it spotted a strategy that, under certain conditions, illegally limits the use of AdBlue, a urea-based liquid needed to assist filter nitrogen oxides from diesel emissions.
The automaker has changed production of the Touareg and developed a new engine software to help repair the affected vehicles, KBA informed.
