Volkswagen recalling 8.5 million diesel cars in Europe

Volkswagen is recalling 8.5 million diesel cars in Europe as the full sweep of the company’s emissions scandal begins to come into focus.

The action reflects the first major concrete step on the road to fixing all of the 11 million vehicles worldwide that were fitted with software to cheat emissions regulations.

A recall is expected in the U.S., but the company has said it’s still working on a fix for the nearly 500,000 U.S. cars that are affected.

The action in Europe includes 2.4 million vehicles in Volkswagen’s home country of Germany.

Volkswagen said it would notify vehicle owners directly about the fixes that must be made to their vehicles. The free repairs will start in January for European car owners.

Older vehicles will require hardware changes, Volkswagen U.S. CEO Michael Horn told a U.S. Congressional panel last week. Those older models could take years to fix because of the complexity of the problem. In addition to removing the sophisticated software, they need new physical equipment that takes up more space than is available in current configurations.

The company has already set aside more than $7 billion to cover the costs of the emissions scandal, but that figure could rise.

Follow Paste BN reporter Nathan Bomey on Twitter @NathanBomey.