Report: Supplier Warned VW About Illegal Device in 2007

According to German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, Bosch engineers told Volkswagen in 2007 that software the supplier had offered for the cars in testing, which made it into road cars, was illegal and should not be used.

The newspaper, which did not cite any sources in the story, said a spokesperson for Bosch did not comment on the report.

If true, the report shows a quick push from the supplier — who admitted it supplied Volkswagen with the parts used to circumvent emissions standards — to isolate the automaker’s responsibility for the scandal. Bosch issued a statement last week saying as much (emphasis mine):

As is usual in the automotive supply industry, Bosch supplies these components to the automaker’s specifications. How these components are calibrated and integrated into complete vehicle systems is the responsibility of each automaker.

Bild’s story also suggests that VW executives had known about the deceitful measures its cars used to pass emissions tests, although it didn’t specify who or when executives may have known.

Former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn said last week when he resigned that he was unaware of the “defeat devices” used by his diesel cars to cheat emissions tests.

The German newspaper (via Automotive News) said that a 2005 initiative — before Winterkorn’s tenure as CEO — to develop a diesel engine for the U.S. market initially showed promise, but when engineers said that when a urea-based system would be needed to clean emissions, executives balked at the additional $335 cost per car. The engines were eventually produced with faulty software to skirt emissions rules.

Separately, German newspaper FAZ said Volkswagen was made aware by one of its own engineers in 2011 that its emissions management systems were illegal.