The Volkswagen cheating scandal continues as German prosecutors begin a criminal investigation into VW’s ex-head Martin Winterkorn on possible fraud charges, and further revelations emerge suggesting the company was warned about cheating as early as 2007.

Winterkorn, who stepped down last week, has said he is not responsible for the scandal. “I am stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group. I am doing this in the interests of the company even though I am not aware of any wrongdoing on my part,” he said in a statement featured on the VW website.

Winterkorn has been replaced by Matthias Müller, head of Porsche, also owned by VW. Müller said a comprehensive refit plan has been outlined in response to the German Federal Motor Transport Authority's (KBA) October 7 deadline for the company to formulate a plan to bring VW emissions within legal levels.

Customers will be able to have the emissions software refitted. Once engines have been fixed, they may use more fuel, increasing the level of CO2 emissions. While VW, Audi and Skoda owners worry about the value of their cars falling, the cars may also be hit with higher taxes, due to the increased CO2 emissions.

Matthias Müller

In Association with

Ignored Warnings

According to German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, software supplier Bosch suspected VW planned to use cheat software in 2007 and warned the car maker of the illegality of doing so. Bosch supplied diesel management software to VW, thinking it would only be used in testing.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung paper revealed on Sunday that a VW engineer also warned the company about illegal testing practices in 2011.

Concerns have been raised about the long term effects of the scandal. Shares in VW have fallen 40% since the scandal broke, with the company revealing 11 million cars on the road contain the emissions cheat software.

There are concerns that the scandal will affect the German economy as the automotive industry makes up 5% of overall economic output.

Diesel

Diesel used to have a reputation as being bad for the environment, leading to a fall in diesel’s popularity, despite the fuel economy it provided. The release of ‘clean diesel’ made way for a diesel comeback. Clean diesel was achieved by using a combination of cleaner diesel containing less sulphur, advanced engines and emissions control technology.

Volkswagen sells a large portion of the diesel cars in Europe, where up to half all passenger cars use diesel engines. According to the EPA, the engines in question can emit up to 40 times the levels of nitrogen oxide that they are supposed to. Nitrogen oxide contributes to global warming and respiratory illnesses.

 Paul Walker

Actor's Daughter Brings Lawsuit

Adding to VW’s bad news, the late Paul Walker's daughter has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Porsche, according to TMZ.

The actor’s 16 year old daughter claims defects in the Porsche Carrera that crashed led to his death.

According to the lawsuit document obtained by TMZ, the seat belt broke his ribs and rendered the actor unable to move, and the fire started over a minute after the crash.

Police reported the car was going between 80-93 mph while the lawsuit claims it was 63-71 mph and that the car lost control because the Carrera didn’t have the Porsche Stability Management system that stops cars swerving.