Berlin, Oct 15 (IANS): The German Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) on Thursday ordered car giant Volkswagen to recall 2.4 million diesel vehicles following the diesel emissions scandal.

"We require (Volkswagen) to recall the vehicles," a spokesman of the KBA was quoted by German television ARD as saying.

The authority rejected the idea of "voluntary repair" proposed by the German carmaker to deal with vehicles sold in Germany that have been equipped with contentious emissions software, Xinhua news agency reported.

Volkswagen has sent a comprehensive action plan to the KBA earlier on how to deal with the emissions cheating scandal.

The US Environmental Protection Agency found in September that the software on Volkswagen diesel cars showed false emission data.

The software installed by Volkswagen in its cars called "defeat device" turns on full emission controls only when the car is undergoing emission tests so as to meet the legal emission standards.

Under normal driving conditions, the cars with "defeat device" software can emit nitrogen oxides at up to 40 times the standard.

Volkswagen has revealed that a total of 11 million diesel cars may have been involved worldwide in the scandal.