Washington, DC – Attorney General Karl A. Racine today announced that the District has joined at least 28 other states to in a joint consumer protection investigation into Volkswagen, following disclosures that the German automobile company’s Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars include software that circumvents Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions testing.

“Evasion of emissions standards deceives consumers and harms our environment here in the District as well as nationwide,” Attorney General Racine said. “One of our most important jobs at the Office of the Attorney General is to protect our city’s consumers as well as our quality of life, and we look forward to working with other states on this investigation.”

Besides the District, states that have joined the investigation include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington state.

According to the EPA and news reports, deceptive software was installed in as many as 11 million diesel Audi and Volkswagen vehicles with four-cylinder engines manufactured for model years 2009 through 2015, including approximately 482,000 vehicles sold in the United States. For more information on which models are affected, visit the EPA’s Notices of Violation page here: http://www3.epa.gov/otaq/cert/violations.htm.

District consumers who own one of the affected vehicles may file a complaint with the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) via OAG’s online Consumer Complaint Form here: http://dcforms.dc.gov/webform/oag-consumer-complaint-form#overlay-context=webform/oag-consumer-complaint-form. They may also contact OAG’s Consumer Protection Hotline at (202) 442-9828 or send an e-mail to consumer.protection@dc.gov.