State Attorney General Confirms Volkswagen Investigation

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson confirmed heading into the weekend his office is conducting an investigation into reports of alleged fraud by Volkswagen, concerning special "chips" placed in cars that allowed them to bypass EPA emissions standards in favor of performance in a number of their diesel-powered cars.

Several models, with production dating as far back as 2008 are the subject of an EPA investigation. The agency claims Volkswagen "tricked" their cars with computer software that allowed them to cut back on emissions to legal levels during emissions tests.  When the car was placed under the stress of the test, the computer would automatically lower emissions so the cars would pass.

It might sound rather far-fetched, but officials say this practice has reportedly been going on for at least 7 years.

Several automotive journals have been following this issue, which affects hundreds of thousands of cars.  Volkswagen has been touting it's "clean diesel" fleet of vehicles for a number of years now, and these allegations of trying to "cheat" on emissions tests has been damaging.

Ferguson said this in a release this week:

“While we typically do not confirm or deny the existence of an ongoing investigation, it has already been reported that Washington is part of a multistate investigation involving 30 other state Attorneys General who are investigating Volkswagen’s alleged use of ‘defeat devices’ in their TDI Clean Diesel engines.
 
“I intend to thoroughly investigate this matter and protect the economic and environmental interests of Washington state consumers.

“That is all the information I can share at this time.”

It is believed such an investigation would only be centered around Washington state Volkswagen owners who are driving one of the models that contain the alleged 'defeat devices.'