Volkswagen deceived with Seat – 700,000 Seats equipped with cheating devices for eco tests

The automotive company Seat has announced that approximately 700,000 of its vehicles are equipped with software that enabled its parent company Volkswagen to cheat on U.S. emissions tests for diesel engines.

A spokesperson for Seat stated on Tuesday that they are currently trying to determine how many of these vehicles have been sold in various national markets. In Spain, there are just over 3,000 new vehicles that have this software. Seat has announced plans to contact vehicle owners for testing. They will also place a search tool on their website that will allow customers to determine if their vehicle has this software. The Spanish manufacturer has temporarily halted sales and deliveries of new vehicles with the EA 189 engine.

VW admitted last week that 11 million of its diesel cars worldwide are equipped with devices that allow ‘cheating’ on eco-tests, after which CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned. This includes 5 million vehicles under the VW brand, 2.1 million Audis, 1.2 million Skodas, 1.8 million vans, and 700,000 Seats.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered VW to rectify the identified defects, and the German company has halted sales of all ‘diesels’ in the U.S. during an investigation that could result in a fine of 18 billion euros, which is more than the company’s entire operational profit last year. The German prosecutor’s office announced on Monday that it has launched an investigation against Winterkorn for allegations of “fraud in the sale of vehicles due to manipulation of harmful emissions data.”