VW Diesel Cheating Used Software Supplied by Bosch

Robert Bosch GmbH provided Volkswagen AG with diesel engine management software the carmaker later used to cheat government emission tests, according to Bild am Sonntag.

The German newspaper says Bosch advised VW in 2007 that the software would be illegal for use in government emission certification procedures. A separate report by the Frankfurter Allgemeine, citing a continuing internal VW probe, says one of VW's own engineers warned the company of the same issue in 2011.

Bosch noted last week that it supplies VW with various diesel engine fuel systems and exhaust gas controls. It added at the time that responsibility for configuring the equipment to meet emission standards belongs solely to VW.

Bild am Sonntag says VW's woes began in 2005 when the company decided to create a 2.0-liter diesel engine specifically for its relatively inexpensive models sold in America. The company's developers insisted the engine could not meet U.S. pollution limits without a €300 urea injection system, a technology already used to lower nitrogen oxide emissions in the company's larger diesels.

VW deemed the cost too high for the intended vehicles, according to the newspaper. But the company continued to develop the U.S. diesel and introduced it in 2007 without a urea system.

Key former executives involved in developing the engine deny knowing about the software cheating. They include former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn, who was CEO of Audi at the time; Wolfgang Bernhard, then VW's brand chief; Ulrich Hackenberg, then Audi's product development leader; Wolfgang Hatz, Audi's top engine development manager; and Rudolf Krebs, then an Audi engine engineer.