Germany’s Volkswagen has experienced quite a bit of bad publicity within the past year, with the company’s diesel emissions scandal. Last September a group of research scientists at West Virginia University, discovered that Volkswagen has fitted some of the company’s diesel engines with what has been referred to as a “defeat device,” which is in essence an emissions software so that the vehicles could pass emissions testing despite emitting up to 40 times the legal limit of NOx set by the EPA and CARB (Clean Air Resource Board).

Since the discovery Volkswagen has admitted wrong doing, and has been working to try to repair affected vehicles, but it appears that the company’s emission fix isn’t working out as planned either.

Recent reports indicate that the fix, initially planned for the estimated 600,000 2008 and newer diesel vehicles in the United States and up to 8.5 million cars worldwide, is resulting in higher fuel consumption which in turn increases emissions, instead of decreasing emissions as planned.

The first phase of planned fixes for the 2.0-liter TDI diesel began in January in a  Europe-wide action, and according to German media outlets, the second phase of  recalls for 160,000 VW Passat TDI’s was halted due to an increase in fuel consumption following the changes completed in the first phase in January.

A spokesperson from VW, told Automotive News Europe that those claims are just “speculation” and authorities are still investigating whether the changes are affecting emission and fuel consumption. Volkswagen must be able to guarantee that emissions meet standards after the fix, so if this is this case, VW has some serious work ahead of them.

According to the VW official, the delay was due to the Federal Motor Transport Authority’s (KBA), as the organization has not concluded the process and decided part way through that independent adjudicators should be utilized to ensure that there is “exactness in the testing process.”

This is something to keep an eye on as the deadline looms for Volkswagen to come up with a fix, for the estimated 600,000 VW vehicles affected by the scandal in North America. The German automaker has until Thursday April 21st to tell a US judge how they intend to fix the affected VW vehicles in the United States.