Finland Times

The German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) has ordered a mandatory recall of 2.4 million diesel vehicles of Volkswagen affected by the emissions testing scandal, it is reported Thursday.

     "We require (Volkswagen) to recall the vehicles," a spokesman of the KBA was quoted by German television ARD as saying. The authority rejected the idea of "voluntary repair" proposed by the German carmaker to deal with vehicles sold in Germany that have been equipped with contentious emissions software.

     Volkswagen has sent a comprehensive action plan to the KBA earlier on how to deal with the emissions cheating scandal.

     The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found in September that the software on Volkswagen diesel cars showed false emission data.

     The software installed by Volkswagen in its cars called "defeat device" turns on full emission controls only when the car is undergoing emission tests so as to meet the legal emission standards. Under normal driving conditions, the cars with "defeat device" software can emit nitrogen oxides at up to 40 times the standard.

     Volkswagen has revealed that a total of 11 million diesel cars may have been involved worldwide in the scandal.