Lawmakers Press EPA on its response to VW Emissions Case

A top official says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is pressing Volkswagen for fixes on its emissions-cheating diesel engines and hopes to see solutions as early as next week.

EPA Director of Transportation and Air Quality Christopher Grundler says he has told VW to present more than one fix. He says the EPA will look at the impact on car owners before approving anything.

In testimony before a House subcommittee Thursday, Grundler says he wishes the EPA would have caught VW sooner. He says the agency has changed testing procedures so they are unpredictable to automakers.

Grundler says the EPA won't go after individual car owners, but it is investigating Volkswagen's conduct.

Volkswagen is looking at compensating owners of diesel-powered cars that have devices set up to cheat on U.S. emissions tests.

U.S. CEO Michael Horn tells lawmakers that the company may pay customers for a loss in resale values because of the scandal.

He says the company doesn't know how much the cheating will cost Volkswagen. The cost depends on fines from government agencies, how much it costs to fix the cars and the price tag for any compensation to customers.

VW has set aside $7.3 billion to pay for the scandal, but Horn says he's not sure that will be enough.

Under questioning from Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., Horn says the company isn't considering loaner cars because the U.S. government says the cheating diesels are safe to drive.

Horn denies that top corporate officials, either in Germany or the U.S., knew about the software.

Horn says there was no discussion or decision by the company's board to install the defeat devices software.

"To my understanding this was not a corporate decision, this was something individuals did," Horn said.

He says "a couple" software developers in Germany were responsible for the cheat.

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, asked Horn if he really believed that senior level corporate managers had no knowledge of the software, which was first installed on cars for the 2009 model year.

"I agree it's very hard to believe," Horn said.  (AP)