WASHINGTON (AP) — The latest on the congressional hearing on Volkswagen’s emissions-rigging (all times local):
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10:34 a.m.
Lawmakers pressing Volkswagen’s top executive on an emissions cheating scandal are fondly recalling owning vintage VW Beetles early in their lives.
Reps. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), D-Colo., and Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA), R-Pa., spoke about their cars with affection.
Murphy says he owned a Beetle in the 1970s and was able to take it apart and put it back together.
DeGette says her first car was a 1960 Beetle with a fabric sunroof that she inherited from her grandmother. She says she still misses the car and that it didn’t need computer software to run.
Lawmakers are holding the hearing to investigate Volkswagen software that allowed its four-cylinder diesel engines to cheat on federal and California emissions tests.
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10:16 a.m.
Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) of Michigan wants Volkswagen’s top executive to answer what he calls the most famous question in Congress: “What did you know and when did you know it?”
Upton is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He says he has host of other questions, including why one of the world’s largest automakers go to such lengths to avoid emissions requirements? Who was responsible for these decisions? How will VW fix the flaw and when? Will the fix affect vehicle performance?
Upton says unraveling these questions will take time, but Volkswagen has a long way to go in rebuilding the public’s trust.
“VW will inevitably pay a steep price for its dirty little secret,” Upton says.
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9:15 a.m.
It’s early and the line is growing. By 8 a.m. — two hours before the start of the House hearing — a crowd already is waiting to get into the room where Volkswagen’s top U.S. executive awaits tough question from lawmakers in the aftermath of the emissions-rigging scandal that’s hit the world’s largest automaker.
A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee is set to hear from Volkswagen of America CEO Michael Horn and officials from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Lawmakers are investigating after Volkswagen admitted it installed on-board computer software designed to cheat on government emissions tests in nearly 500,000 of its four-cylinder “clean diesel” cars, starting with the 2009 model year.
According to an advance copy of Horn’s prepared remarks, VW plans to withdraw applications seeking U.S. emissions certifications for its 2016 model Jettas, Golfs, Passats and Beetles with diesel engines. That’s raising questions about whether a “defeat device” similar to that in earlier models is also in the new cars.
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