They definitely didn't. EPA didn't just make up the term "defeat device" last month. It's in the regulation that VW was supposed to comply with.
The EPA rules also contain a NTE "not-to-exceed" limit, about 2.5x the test limit. They don't have much of an enforcement budget, so testing is pretty rare, but if the car exceeds the NTE limit, the manufacturer has to issue a recall to fix it.
They definitely didn't. EPA didn't just make up the term "defeat device" last month. It's in the regulation that VW was supposed to comply with.
The EPA rules also contain a NTE "not-to-exceed" limit, about 2.5x the test limit. They don't have much of an enforcement budget, so testing is pretty rare, but if the car exceeds the NTE limit, the manufacturer has to issue a recall to fix it.