The Ministry of Environment of South Korea will launch a probe into other carmakers, including Hyundai Motor and Kia, as an extension of its investigation into Volkswagen’s emissions-cheating scandal.
The ministry said on October 1 that it would investigate Volkswagen’s emissions-rigging scandal until mid-November and expand its investigation into other diesel-powered vehicles, manufactured by Hyundai and Kia. “We will complete our probe into the VW vehicles affected by the diesel scandal by mid-November. And we will carry out exhaust emissions tests on Korean diesel vehicles and other imported diesel-powered cars starting from the end of November,” said an official from the ministry.
Currently under the microsphere are the VW Golf (powered by the new Euro 6 EA288 engine), Beetle, Jetta, Tiguan (powered by the Euro 5 EA189 engine), a new Golf model and the Audi A3.
The ministry is scheduled to conduct emissions tests at the National Institute of Environmental Research, located in Incheon, so as to measure tailpipe emissions of toxic air pollutants, such as nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon, etc. Emissions tests will be carried out on in-use vehicles running at a maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour without the AC/heating system turned on.