Yahoo Autos VW Might Get Away With Never Fixing its Emissions-Cheating TDIs
Ever since Volkswagen's diesel-emissions cheating was revealed last year, the company has been hard at work developing an acceptable fix for the U.S. market. Federal regulators have rejected all of VW's proposals to fix cheating 2.0- and 3.0-liter diesels, and now, there's a chance they'll never be fixed.
According to Bloomberg, VW seeks a final sign-off for its $14.7-billion settlement with U.S. government, but the EPA and California Air Resources Board (CARB) still approved a plan to make affected vehicles emissions-compliant. A San Francisco judge will consider final approval for VW's settlement today, but without a fix in place, VW may be forced to buy back all of the 482,000 2.0-liter TDI-powered vehicles it sold in the U.S
With most owners already opting for a buyback, VW is likely prepared for this scenario. What's arguably more worrying for VW is the matter of its cheating 3.0-liter diesels. That V6 engine was only installed in 85,000 U.S.-market VW Touraegs, Audi Q5s, and Porsche Cayennes, but buybacks for those more-expensive cars will quickly add up.
VW has proposed a number of fixes for those cars, but all have been rejected by CARB or the EPA. Currently, VW hasn't finalized a settlement with owners affected by those cars.
VW set aside $10 billion to buy back cheating 2.0-liter cars, and without an approved fix, it looks like it'll spend that entire amount. If the company needs to do the same with cheating 3.0-liter cars, its costs will continue to grow.
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