With each passing month it seems as though the end of Volkswagen’s (VW) troubles won’t end anytime soon, and a newly disclosed CO2 emissions hack in some of the German automaker’s top-selling Audi vehicles shows that there are more secrets hidden deep within the company.
This new hack, which affects some undisclosed automatic transmission vehicles, is different from the controversial emissions cheat discovered in the company’s diesel-powered cars, but both were designed to push the vehicles to their highest performance by throwing environmental safety standards out the window.
VW and its subsidiary brands, including Audi, have been highly scrutinized after the wake of ‘dieselgate’ last year, which ultimately led to this recent discovery by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) this summer.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) opened up an investigation into Audi’s manipulation of the the adaptive transmission control, a system that provides better performance by reducing shifting frequency and improving fuel economy, and will be meeting with VW executives and engineers to figure out the next steps.