Skip to main content

Nearly half a million 2016 Volkswagens have bogus CO2 readings

Nearly half a million 2016 Volkswagens have bogus CO2 readings

Share this story

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Volkswagen Group just posted an update about its other emissions scandal — not the diesel one — where vehicles with both diesel and gasoline engines were being sold with incorrect CO2 emissions figures. This is big, because customers and regulators use those CO2 numbers to determine just how much greenhouse gas vehicles are pumping into the atmosphere.

VW had previously said that roughly 800,000 cars are affected by the CO2 problem; that's still the case, but the company now says that about 430,000 of those are from the 2016 model year. The full list of affected 2016 models, which Volkswagen has posted, shows a variety of Audi, Seat, Skoda, and VW models are involved. It says it doesn't yet know exactly which cars from prior model years are involved.

While it's not comforting to know that you're driving a car that's putting more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than previously believed, there is some silver lining: as with the diesel scandal, the false CO2 values don't pose a safety risk. The company also notes that it's working with various regulatory agencies to make sure that additional CO2 taxes and fees are charged directly to them, not to vehicle owners.

Still, there will undoubtedly be some customers who want Volkswagen to take their vehicle back outright. There's no word yet on what remedy those people may have.