Michael Horn, president and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, in a hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday, apologized and said that the company is "determined to make things right."

Horn's remarks were made public a day before he was due to testify before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. A Republican lawmaker called Volkswagen's emissions-cheating a "fundamental violation of public trust."

"We have to streamline our processes and this company has to bloody learn and use this opportunity in order to get their act together," he said.

He said that he had no knowledge of the faulty software prior to his meeting with the US Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board on Sept. 3, 2015.

"To the best of my knowledge today, this was not a corporate decision," he said. "This was a couple of software engineers who put this in for whatever reasons and I would also like to find out."

Horn, a German who has worked at VW for 25 years, said he did not think something like that would be possible at his company. "These events are deeply troubling," he said.

Representatives were most concerned about the nearly half a million affected cars already on the road in the US Horn explained that for about 430,000 of those vehicles, a software-only fix would be technically unworkable; a hardware fix would also be needed.

Horn apologized for not having specific dates on when technical remedies could be expected as investigations are still ongoing, but said that new software could be available early next year. He explained that the full remedy could take several years to complete.

Dealers, whose business is approximately 25 percent diesel cars, will receive some financial support and incentives from VW, he said.

Horn outlined a series of actions the company was planning to take to remedy the situation. Among them: conducting global investigations, developing remedies and communicating openly.

He said the company's losses will depend of the amount of fines, recall fixes and customer compensation and "this is a whole lot of money, I'm quite sure."

He said the company would examine compliance and standards to "make certain that something like this cannot happen again." The company has set up a service line and website for the public to access. Horn also said that he had sent a letter to every affected customer.

"We will fully cooperate with all responsible authorities. We will find remedies for our customers, and we will work to ensure that this will never happen again," he said.

In mid-September, the EPA made allegations that the German automaker had been cheating on American air pollution tests. Volkswagen installed sophisticated software known as "defeat devices" in the electronic control module of diesel vehicles issued between 2009 and 2015.

The company later admitted to the faulty software and subsequently issued several apologies. About 11 million cars worldwide are thought to be affected.

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