Volkswagen Emissions Scandal Widens; Latest Recall Info

If you’re one of the, oh, several thousand people in metro Atlanta who drive a diesel Volkswagen, you may have heard the German manufacturer has been busted by the EPA for intentionally circumventing smog-reduction standards.

On Tuesday, the scandal got much wider, when the company admitted to investors that internal investigations had found significant discrepancies in 11 million vehicles worldwide, according to CNN.

What happens next is unclear, for the moment. If your vehicle is affected, the EPA says you can keep driving it.

The closest VW dealer to East Atlanta is Jim Ellis Volkswagen in Chamblee.

If VW doesn’t voluntarily recall the the roughly 482,000 affected vehicles sold in the United States since 2009 — 2.0 liter Volkswagen Golf, Jetta, Sportswagen, Beetle and Audi A3 vehicles — a recall could be forced by court order, The New York Times and The Detroit News are reporting.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday accused Volkswagen of intentionally circumventing smog-reduction standards and ordered the German automaker to recall about half million diesel vehicles sold in the United States.

The EPA said VW could face fines of up to $18 billion and criminal prosecution for installing so-called “defeat device”software that allows vehicles to emit up to 40 times more diesel pollution than is legally allowed.