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Volkswagen is facing huge fines, its reputation in tatters, and a CEO on the edge.

The company cheated diesel emissions tests in the U.S. for seven years.

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It did so through a clever piece of software that could identify when it was being tested and reduce harmful exhaust so it looked as if the cars met requirements, when in fact they didn’t.

Volkswagen was caught by independent testing carried out by a clean-air advocacy group, The International Council on Clean Transportation, which tested the cars because it thought they were such a great example of how diesel could be a clean fuel.

Here’s a rundown on what happened and when.

Most car manufacturers use a urea-injection system, often called AdBlue, which uses a chemical catalyst to make sure unburnt fuel doesn’t get into the exhaust.

But VW says it can meet the regulation without the AdBlue system on many of its cars.

In 2013, the International Council on Clean Transportation teams up with West Virginia University for a study on the Volkswagen diesel cars.