VW Passat Diesel Model Loses Good Housekeeping Endorsement

By Tom Bergin

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S consumer magazine Good Housekeeping has retracted its endorsement of a Volkswagen diesel model following the carmaker’s admission that it cheated for years to enable its diesel models meet U.S. regulatory emissions standards.

Following an inquiry from Reuters, the Good Housekeeping Institute, said it had updated a previous recommendation of a Volkswagen 2013 Volkswagen Passat diesel model, saying on its website that: “We would no longer recommend the vehicle as an eco-conscious pick."

Volkswagen’s diesel models won a number of awards in the last decade for being environmentally friendly. These cars achieved high fuel efficiency while producing low emissions of poisonous gases such as nitrous oxide in tests. However, the carmaker admitted this week that these results were achieved by installing “defeat devices” in its cars that fooled test mechanisms.

The Green Car Journal, which awarded VW diesel models a "Green Car of the Year Award" in 2009 and 2010, and the Green Car Reports which named a VW diesel a “Best Car to Buy 2015” award said they were also reviewing their endorsement of the company's vehicles.

(Reporting by Tom Bergin; Editing by Bernard Orr)