Audi Suspends Two Engineers Over 3-liter Diesel Scandal; Still Has No Idea How This Happened

Audi has suspended two engineers for their involvement in helping Volkswagen’s larger 3-liter diesel engine pass emissions, according to Audi’s CEO. (Or you know, Volkswagen’s other, other emissions scandal.) The engine is used in the Porsche Cayenne and Audi’s range of sedans and crossovers.Audi CEO Rupert Stadler told German newspaper Donaukurier that two engineers were suspended Wednesday and that the company was learning about its engines along with the rest of us.“So I checked it several times: Is our six-cylinder clean? Do we have a (‘defeat device’)? And multiple statements in the board meeting were: no,” Stadler said about an October meeting with Audi’s top executives. In November, the California Air Resources Board and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notified Volkswagen — and its luxury brands Porsche and Audi — that a “temperature conditioning” mode in its 3-liter diesel engines was helping cheat those cars through emissions testing. The agencies said the mode constituted an illegal “defeat device,” which the automakers initially denied.This week, Audi acknowledged the mode and two other modes designed to control emissions weren’t disclosed to regulators and that the temperature conditioning mode was a defeat device.In all, roughly 85,000 cars are affected. Volkswagen issued a larger stop-sale this month for cars with the illegal software, which include the Porsche Cayenne, Volkswagen Touareg, and Audis A6, A7, A8, Q5 and Q7 models.Stadler said he probably won’t listen to the guys who told him the engines were clean anymore, I guess.“This is the subject of current investigations. I want to know the truth,” he said. According to Reuters, the 3-liter diesel engine was built by Audi at its Neckarsulm facility.