Audi's 3.0-liter diesels were part of the diesel scandal from 2013–15.
Audi’s in trouble once again for problems with emission levels on 127,000 diesel-powered vehicles around the world. The transport ministry ordered the recall of the vehicles because they contained illicit emission-control software.
The authority gave Audi until Feb. 2 to come up with a plan to update vehicle software that controls the emissions and make it impossible for them to be tampered with, according to Bild am Sonntag, a German newspaper.
The order, which affects 77,600 vehicles in Germany, requires Audi to bring them up to Euro 6 emissions standards. The order affects 77,600 vehicles in Germany, the paper reported.
Some 127,000 vehicles from Audi, a unit of Volkswagen, designed to meet the latest Euro 6 emissions standards are affected worldwide, including 77,600 vehicles are registered in Germany, a spokeswoman for the German transport ministry said.
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Audi said in a statement on Sunday that the models had been included in a voluntary recall of 850,000 diesel vehicles with V6 and V8 TDI engines announced in July. Audi was caught up in dieselgate with parent company Volkswagen AG.
Last year, in the U.S., Volkswagen has been given the go ahead to repair about 38,000 VW, Audi and Porsche SUVs equipped with 3.0-liter turbodiesels the German maker had originally rigged to illegally pass U.S. emissions tests.
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Earlier this year, U.S. and California regulators approved similar repairs for about 326,000 VW and Audi products using a 2.0-liter diesel engine that had also been altered. All told, VW has admitted using “defeat device” software on nearly 500,000 diesel vehicles sold in the U.S., and more than 11 million cars and trucks sold worldwide.
It has since agreed to about $30 billion in fines and penalties, though the approval of a fix for the larger engine could save the German carmaker as much as $1 billion, according to a letter released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today.
The scandal erupted in September 2015 when the EPA accused of rigging 2.0-liter diesel models, such as the Golf TDI, so that they would reduce output of pollutants such as smog-causing oxides of nitrogen during emissions tests.
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In real-world conditions, however, they could produce nearly 40 times more of those gases. Subsequently, the automaker confirmed it had also rigged models using the 3.0-liter engine, as well.