Half Million VW Diesel Owners Are Hearing Cha-Ching!

Volkswagen has been bracing itself for stiff fines for duping their consumers with diesel emission testing cheat software installed on every 2.0 liter diesel that they made. The scandal known as ‘Dieselgate’ surfaced in September 2015 and was quickly followed with the wrath of consumers and the U.S. government. Earlier this year the U.S. Justice Department sued them for $46 billion for this cheat software and for also violating U.S. environmental laws. The software essentially told the 2.0 liter diesel engines to run differently when it senses itself undergoing testing, pretending to be cleaner than it actually is. Separately, the Federal Trade Commission, also sued Volkswagen for false advertising because their “Clean Diesel” is anything but. And if those government suits didn’t hurt Volkswagen just yet, LOTS of U.S. owners have complained about their resale value and have taken to action.

Volkswagen has recently agreed to settle claims of almost a half million U.S. owners to the tune of $10.2 billion, which would provide room for compensating affected consumers, IN ADDITION TO the effort needed to perform a repair or a buyback. According to LA Times:

Owners would have a choice between selling their vehicles back to VW at the value before the scandal broke Sept. 18, 2015, or keeping the cars and letting the company repair them free of charge. Either way, they would also get $1,000 to $7,000 depending on their cars’ age, with an average payment of about $5,000.

This compensation makes up for the bulk of the settlement claims while the rest will go to government agencies for environmental penalties and for setting up a program to correct the environmental damage from pollution.

The company faces as much as $20 billion in fines for Clean Air Act violations alone, on top of paying to fix the cars or compensate their owners.

The settlement does not include 3-liter Volkswagen diesels, which had another version of cheating software.

Certainly Volkswagen is getting pummeled left and right with stiff fines, but supposedly that is the price you pay for skirting regulations and deceiving the public. Luckily for affected diesel owners, they will properly be compensated so they can put this whole dieselgate situation behind them.

(Source: LA Times)