No CAT update is required
No CAT fitment is required to make the U.S. EA189 series VW Diesel engines EPA compliant. These engines have already passed EPA certification. All they need is a slight change in the duty cycle on the emissions controls. In fact all of the later model 2.0L engines only need a software update to meet all emissions regs. The earlier 1.6L models need an $11 part and an hour of labor to install it. What the EPA is able to coerce VW into doing is far different than what is actually required for the EA189 series engines to comply with all emissions regs.
It's worth noting that numerous German "sources" for info. on the VW Diesel scandal have been blatantly wrong in their allegations and speculation.
The 3.0L V-6 Audi Diesel engine meets ALL U.S. EPA emissions requirements as is. The German motor authority KBA also did an extensive investigation into the Audi designed 3.0L V-6 Diesel and found no problems with emissions compliance what so ever. The EPA's complaint is that on cold start-up the system uses a hot CAT cleaning cycle that actually reduces emissions below what is require. This hot CAT cleaning cycle will now become mandatory for all Diesels sold in the U.S. in 2018 but the EPA wants to punish VW/Audi/Porsche and consumers for Audi being proactive and lowering cold start emissions lower than required by the EPA. They are doing this because the EPA is so inept that it didn't even recognize the CAT cleaning cycle used by many Diesel engine makers.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
