Volkswagen (VW) Taiwan has announced the recall of 12,000 diesel vehicles that it says are affected by the diesel emissions scandal, reports the Taipei Times. The recall affects models fitted with the EA189 engine combined with devices within the engine software that could be used to cheat on emissions tests. However, the Taiwanese Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) claims that 46,000 vehicles could be affected. The EPA bases this on information from VW which stated that 16 diesel models of the VW, Audi, Skoda, and VW Commercial brands were equipped with the software, according to the report. Since 2004, a total of 46,000 units of these 16 diesel models were imported into Taiwan, the EPA claims. The report states that the EPA has said if the difference proves irreconcilable the administration will have the final say on which models and how many vehicles are affected and should be recalled.
Significance: The vast majority of vehicles affected by the installation of the 'cheat software' have been VW brand models, and on 2 October IHS Automotive issued a detailed analysis of the vehicles fitted with the EA189 engine. The EPA claims that 46,000 vehicles imported into Taiwan have "engines suspected of using the cheating software", while the VW Taiwan method of calculating the models affected relies on the vehicle identification number, the EPA claims. Earlier, the EPA had ordered around 17,000 units to be recalled in Taiwan.
