Volkswagen Gets a New Diesel Deadline, But There Won't Be Another
After missing today’s deadline for a U.S. emissions fix, Volkswagen has been issued a new one, and will now face a summer trial if the date passes without a plan to cure its diesel ills.
The extension of the deadline until April 21 was issued by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who had earlier set the March 24 deadline for the embattled automaker, Reuters is reporting.
The consensus of today’s meeting in California between Volkswagen, the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board was that progress had been made in reaching an agreement on how to deal with 580,000 Volkswagen diesels equipped with pollution-causing defeat devices.
Breyer said that a fix could come in many forms — a mechanical or electronic fix, a buyback of the affected vehicles, or something else. Though he didn’t elaborate on the what that “something else” could be, it could be a reference to a suggestion made at a recent legislative hearing by CARB chief Tod Sax.
Sax said if Volkswagen is unable to bring its older TDI models into environmental compliance (because the modifications needed to do so would be too extensive), an option would be for regulators to “accept less than a full fix.”
If this becomes part of the solution, Volkswagen would have to compensate the state and federal government for the environmental damage from its partially-fixed vehicles. Already, sources have said the automaker is on the process of setting up two large environmental remediation funds.
In addition to the $46 billion U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit, Volkswagen faces continuing criminal investigations in Germany, a fraud case in France, and numerous smaller lawsuits from other jurisdictions and shareholders.
More by Steph Willems
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It's a joke since this has been a known issue. The powers that be should never have let a car the size of a 4x4 quad be sold that produces soot by the #. The diesel engine isn't any good with what is strapped to it. Too many rig drivers are complaining to me about new rigs and how they run. I see many new diesel pickups, GM diesels more than others right now having issues. Why bother with problems? If you need it buy a diesel. Otherwise don't support the nonsense they are throwing on people. The less demand for it the less they push the bullshit. I want a diesel, colorado, ram, etc.. Not worth it right now. Better off buying a gas job in anything. Save on the cheaper fuel and let the spa make laws that don't effect you. Screw vw. To push your diesel and have it not comply. While profiting big money. Very scummy if you ask me.
Even before this controversy, TDI's had no plausible "Eco friendly" play as is seen with Hybrids and EV's, that induced people to buy them, cost be damned. There's also no overriding functional requirement, as there is with commercial trucks. All they had was a lower operating cost that offset the higher upfront price of the car within the first few years of ownership. That was the entire TDI value proposition, and the EPA/CARB crackdown on diesels, starting about a decade ago, would have blasted that value proposition to hell if they'd *honestly* met the new regs.