(Bloomberg) — Volkswagen AG's diesel-emission scandal just got a little bigger.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Friday that the investigation now includes every Volkswagen and Audi model with a larger 3.0-liter diesel engine from model years 2009 through 2016.
Previously, the EPA was investigating only a few of the larger-engine models from VW, Audi and Porsche from 2014-2016, along with 482,000 vehicles with 2-liter diesel engines from the 2009-2015 model years.
The agency acted after Volkswagen and Audi officials said in a meeting Thursday the equipment in the newer cars was present in models going back to 2009. Regulators said Nov. 2 that the technology qualified as a "defeat device" and altered emissions-control systems in a way that violated clean-air laws.
Volkswagen faces a deadline today on presenting California regulators with a proposal to fix the 482,000 vehicles it admits were rigged to pass pollution tests. The plan will make cars such as the diesel Beetle, Jetta, Golf, Passat and Audi A3 compliant with pollution standards.
The EPA said Thursday it expects to get the same information Volkswagen is submitting to the California Air Resources Board, and the agency plans to evaluate the effectiveness of the company's plan.
In a statement earlier this month, Volkswagen denied the EPA's claims that the V6 TDI diesel cars manipulated emissions tests.
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