US sues Volkswagen for cheating on emissions tests

Washington

THE Justice Department sued German automaker Volkswagen in federal court on Monday, saying that the company installed illegal devices in nearly 600,000 diesel engine systems to impair emissions controls, increasing harmful air pollution.

But despite a pledge by the Justice Department in September to go after executives responsible for corporate wrongdoing, federal prosecutors stopped short of criminal charges and did not single out individuals. They did question Volkswagen's efforts to restore its credibility, accusing the company of being uncooperative - even recently - with regulators.

The civil complaint was filed in Detroit on Monday. In September, Volkswagen admitted that it had installed the software created to cheat on emissions tests in 11 million of its d…