Fixes for Volkswagen EA 189 diesel engines

Volkswagen says it has identified specific actions that would rectify irregular NOx emissions from EA 189 diesel engines. These remedies have been approved already by the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (German Federal Motor Transport Authority).

According to Volkswagen:

“A 'flow transformer' will be fitted directly in front of the air mass sensor on the 1.6 litre EA 189 engine. This is a mesh that calms the swirled air flow in front of the air mass sensor and will thus decisively improve the measuring accuracy of the air mass sensor. The air mass sensor determines the current air mass throughput, which is a very important parameter for the engine management for an optimum combustion process. In addition, a software update will be performed on this engine. The time needed for the implementation of the technical measures is expected to be less than one hour.

“The 2.0 litre engines will get a software update. The pure labour time for this measure will be around half an hour.

“The objective for the development of the technical measures is still to achieve the applicable emission targets in each case without any adverse effects on the engine output, fuel consumption and performance. However, as all model variants first have to be measured, the achievement of these targets cannot yet be finally confirmed.”

Affected cars will be subject to a recall from January 2016. That process, which for now applies to European markets only, is expected to take a full year to complete.

Audi, Seat, Škoda and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles are planning identical programmes for their EA 189-equipped vehicles.

Regarding similar 'cheat device' issues with Volkswagen's 1.2 litre three-cylinder diesel engine, separate proposals are due to be submitted to the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt at the end of this month.

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