Judge wants evidence from VW expert

THE Federal Court has today ordered Volkswagen Group Australia to clarify a written submission it made to a class action hearing being brought on behalf of tens of thousands of VW, Skoda and Audi owners in Australia, over the worldwide diesel emissions scandal presently consuming the German car-maker.

In the document before the court, VW referred to exhaust gas recirculation and said that EGR was not a “defeat device” which is the cheating mechanism under scrutiny and at the centre of the scandal.

Given that the company has been widely on the record in the United States and elsewhere, saying that it had used a defeat device and had apologised for doing so, Justice Lindsay Foster ordered that Volkswagen Australia should brief him with a full explanation of EGR.

“I want to know what it is technically and how it works,” he said.

The barrister for Volkswagen Group, Ruth Higgins, told the court that the person best placed to provide the explanation to the court was out of the country and would not be returning to Australia until late February.

Bannister Law principal and founder Charles Bannister said consumers could be forgiven for feeling confused at the apparent contradictions in VW’s position and cited Michael Horn, CEO of Volkswagen US who appeared before US Congress on October 8, 2015.

“On behalf of our company, and my colleagues in Germany, I would like to offer a sincere apology for Volkswagen's use of a software program that served to defeat the regular emissions testing regime,” said Mr Horn at the time.

Mr Bannister went on to explain that “VW will need to reconcile its position that there is no defeat device and no contravention of standards, yet they talk of the need for a ‘fix’ or solution to a problem that they don’t seem willing to admit.” The case is due to resume on April 8, 2016.