“Unpredictable” EPA
Chris Grundler, director of the EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality that oversees auto emissions, told the panel Thursday the agency has already changed its testing program to root out defeat devices like the ones used by VW.
“We’ve learned from this episode, for sure,” Grundler said. “We wish we had found it sooner.”
Grundler says the first priority is running light-duty vehicles with diesel engines on the market now through an additional battery of tests, without telling automakers exactly what the tests consist of.
During the hearing, Grundler told lawmakers the additional steps would include a combination of the EPA’s standard five-cycle emissions test, lab testing outside the EPA’s usual parameters and real-world monitoring of emissions using on-board measuring equipment.
“Bottom line,” Grundler said, “is that we are going to be unpredictable.”
Reuters contributed to this report.