They follow an admission by VW that it deceived US regulators during exhaust emissions tests.
A DoJ criminal investigation would be serious, as federal authorities can bring charges with severe penalties against a firm and individuals.
Late on Tuesday New York state’s top lawyer announced an investigation.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said he will collaborate with other states to enforce consumer and environmental law.
“No company should be allowed to evade our environmental laws or promise consumers a fake bill of goods,” Mr Schneiderman said in a statement announcing the probe.
Meanwhile the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board are investigating the way VW cheated tests to measure the amount of pollutants coming from its diesel cars.
Volkswagen said 11 million vehicles worldwide are involved and it is setting aside €6.5bn (£4.7bn) to cover costs of the scandal.
According to Bloomberg and AFP, the Department of Justice is looking into the issue, which raises the possibility of the company and individual executives facing criminal charges.
However, the DoJ often extracts hefty payments from companies to settle criminal charges.
‘Totally screwed-up’
Volkswagen is due to hold a supervisory board meeting on Friday.
But reports say that chief executive Martin Winterkorn will appear before a select group of board members before then, possibly later on Wednesday.
On Tuesday Mr Winterkorn issued a fresh apology for the test-rigging, saying he was “endlessly sorry” for the “manipulation”.
Earlier, the boss of Volkswagen’s US business, Michael Horn, admitted the firm “totally screwed up”.
In the UK, the Department of Transport has added its voice to calls for an EU-wide investigation into the affair.
Analysis: Damien McGuinness, BBC Berlin
Cars and the environment – two things that Germany cares so deeply about that they form part of the national character.
So Germans are shocked to discover that for years the country’s mightiest car manufacturer Volkswagen has been rigging environmental tests for diesel emissions in the US.
It’s as if the British suddenly found out that the Queen had a hand in fixing the horse races at Ascot.
One German newspaper has called it the “most expensive act of stupidity in the history of the car industry”.
It’s stupid because manipulating pollution data to boost sales can only be seen as a slap in the face to customers who paid a premium for what they thought was a greener car.
Since the company owned up, its shares have plummeted by more than a third in just two days.(BBC News)
Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34332452
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