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Friday, November 13, 2026Nov 13

California regulators reject Volkswagen recall plan

FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2015, file photo, John Swanton, spokesman with the California Air Resources Board, explains how a 2013 Volkswagen Passat with a diesel engine is evaluated at the emissions test lab in El Monte, Calif. California air quality regulators, on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, rejected Volkswagen's recall plan to fix vehicles including the Beetle and Jetta that were programmed to trick government emissions tests. (AP Photo/Nick Ut,File)
FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2015, file photo, John Swanton, spokesman with the California Air Resources Board, explains how a 2013 Volkswagen Passat with a diesel engine is evaluated at the emissions test lab in El Monte, Calif. California air quality regulators, on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016, rejected Volkswagen's recall plan to fix vehicles including the Beetle and Jetta that were programmed to trick government emissions tests. (AP Photo/Nick Ut,File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) – California regulators said Tuesday they have rejected Volkswagen’s recall plan for some of its most popular diesel models, including the Passat and the Jetta, that used software to intentionally deceive government emissions tests.

The California Air Resources Board said the recall plan was unacceptable for a variety of reasons, including that it did not adequately identify the affected vehicles; did not include a sufficient method for obtaining the car owners’ names and address and did not include adequate information on how the fix would affect future emissions results.

The state agency also issued a formal notice of violation against the German automaker.

Other models covered under the rejected recall plan include the Beetle and Jetta SportWagen.

The rejection only applied to 2.0-liter diesel engines registered in California – 75,688 vehicles from model years 2009 to 2015, according to state officials.