EPA catches Volkswagen blatantly cheating on smog tests

(Image credit: Alexander Koerner/Getty Images)

published 18 September 2015

Almost half a million Volkswagen cars, including recent diesel models of Jettas, Beetles, Audi A3s, Golfs, and Passats, may be recalled in an enormous crackdown on the German carmaker's alleged blatant circumvention of smog standards, The New York Times reports. The Environmental Protection Agency has demanded that the cars be recalled, and specifically accused Volkswagen of installing software, called a "defeat device," in their cars that basically just lies about what a car's emissions are during tests:

The device is programmed to detect when the car is undergoing official emissions testing, and to only turn on full emissions control systems during that testing. Those controls are turned off during normal driving situations, when the vehicles pollute far more heavily than reported by the manufacturer, the E.P.A. said. [The New York Times]

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.