The state prosecutor’s office in the city of Stuttgart has obtained a large data cache that apparently details how a department at Bosch cooperated with Volkswagen as early as 2005 to develop the cheat software.
“The department which the data comes from knew since 2005 that it was cheat software,” an insider told WirtschaftsWoche. “The data details which tricks were programmed when and by whom since 2005 and who knew.”
According to WirtschaftsWoche sources, the data also reveals that the emissions scandal goes far beyond the well-known attempts by Volkswagen to cheat nitrogen oxide tests of diesel cars.
“It’s about other pollutants such as soot particulate and it’s also about gas engines,” an insider said.
Prosecutors obtained the data cache in 2011 from a former Bosch employee who was under investigation. The former employee had copied 1.3 terabytes of data, equivalent to 1,800 CDs, from Bosch between 2009 and 2011 and had tried to sell the information to automobile enthusiasts.
The data is now being looked at in a new light by prosecutors who launched an investigation into Bosch at the end of 2015, months after Volkswagen admitted it had manipulated software in 11 million cars worldwide to cheat emissions tests.
“We are reviewing to what extent the evidence secured at that time is relevant for our ongoing investigation against Bosch,” confirmed a spokesperson for the state prosecutor’s office.
The data apparently contains information on strictly confidential engine control programs, emissions measurements and the email communications of entire departments.
The data includes information about many Volkswagen models such as the Passat, Golf and Tiguan as well as models from Seat, Skoda and Bentley. A large portion of the data concerns Audi and is marked “confidential.”