The California Air Resources Board (CARB) in the United States has extended its deadline for approving a plan submitted by Volkswagen (VW) for fixing the emissions defeat device on its 2.0-litre diesel engine until 14 January 2016, reports Reuters. VW submitted the plan on 20 November, a deadline set by CARB, for repairing about 482,000 diesel-equipped Jetta, Beetle, Passat, and Golf vehicles built between 2009 and 2015. The vehicles have software that allows emissions higher than legally allowable in real-world driving, operating differently during emissions tests from real-world driving. CARB has received updates from VW on the plan, causing the change in deadline. Separately, more than 40 activists and clean-energy executives have signed a letter to CARB encouraging the agency to require VW to speed up its development of zero-emissions vehicles, rather than spend money and energy correcting the issues related to the vehicles already on the road. Among those who signed the letter is electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk.
Significance: VW's plan includes only software updates for some engines, but both software and hardware updates for others. VW cannot start to implement the plan until it is approved by CARB; European regulators have already approved a plan for vehicles impacted in that region. The automaker also has a deadline of February 2016 for submitting a plan to address the 3.0-litre V6 engines it also admitted had emissions software irregularities. The VW emissions scandal has overtaken most news on the company since September, and has caused significant changes in its management. In relation to the letter suggesting an alternative solution to the VW plan, it is unclear that it will have any impact on CARB's handling of the situation.
