Volkswagen: Fitting in January, problem is not only in software
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Some vehicles could need new injectors and catalyzers.
Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller told the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: "It will hopefully be fewer, but in any case still far too many."
Asked when the recall will begin, Mueller said in an interview published Wednesday that "care goes before speed. If everything goes as planned, we can start the recall in January. All the cars should be in order by the end of 2016."
Mueller said the company will have to fix the EA 189 diesel engine "in combination with various transmissions and country-specific designs. So we don't need three solutions, but thousands."
A software update will suffice to fix the problem in most cases, but some vehicles could need new injectors and catalyzers, Mueller was quoted as saying. He said the automaker may need to set up temporary specialist workshops to deal with the more complex cases.
Mueller said that "according to current information, a few developers interfered in the engine management." He said he doesn't think the management board made the decision to use the manipulated software. ■