The Consumer Protection Council (CPC) has issued a seven-day ultimatum to Volkswagen Nigeria to provide information on the status of its vehicles in relation to the emissions cheating software, which affected 11 million cars worldwide.
The council, in a letter to the automaker dated October 26, 2015,
signed by its Director General, Dupe Atoki and obtained by Premium
Times, said: “The attention of the council has been drawn to some
publications wherein Volkswagen has admitted the allegation that certain
illegal “defeat device” software was installed in Volkswagen vehicles
to cheat emission test. The resultant effect of this on the environment
and quality of these cars is of great importance to the CPC.
“The publications also indicated that Volkswagen had admitted that
vehicles with 1.2, 1.6, and 2.0 litre EA 189 engines are all affected,
(i.e. Golf, Beatle, Jetta and Passat models),” it added.
CPC noted that Volkswagen has a huge market in Nigeria, with many
customers who may currently be in possession of the affected models.
It requested Volkswagen Nigeria to within seven days of the receipt of
its letter make available to it the number of affected vehicles in
Nigeria (if any), steps taken to inform and sensitise consumers and
efforts being made to facilitate quick recall of such vehicles in the
country.
CPC said its directive was pursuant to the powers of the council to
compel manufacturers to give public notice of any hazard inherent in
their products.
The council’s action came more than a month after Volkswagen admitted
to US authorities that its millions of its brands contained a software
that could cheat pollution tests, making them seem cleaner than they
actually were.
Around 11 million vehicles worldwide manufactured between 2009 and
2015, including 5 million VW cars, 2.1 million Audi, 1.2 million Skoda,
700,000 Seat and 1.8. million vans, are confirmed to have been built
with these so-called “defeat devices.”
No comments:
Post a Comment