Volkswagen is Pretty Sure It Can Fix Those 3.0-Liter Diesels

Good news, owners of Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche models powered by a 3.0-liter TDI engine — your heavily polluting diesel probably won’t have to be bought back and scrapped.

A lawyer for the automaker said in court today that Volkswagen believes the 85,000 vehicles can be cleaned up with a not-too-complicated fix, Reuters reports.

If true, it means reduced future costs for a company that’s already agreed to shell out $15.3 billion in the U.S. to settle its diesel emissions scandal fallout. It also means those oil-burning Cayennes can continue to impress their owners’ neighbours.

In his court statement, lawyer Robert Giuffra said, “The company believes that we can fix the 3.0 liter to the standards to which those cars were originally certified.”

Months of meetings and tests are required before Volkswagen can begin repairing the afflicted models. The tests, said to be especially rigorous, have to prove that any proposed fix holds up over time.

The 3.0-liter TDI engines aren’t as polluting as the 2.0-liter units doomed to the scrap heap, emitting only nine times the allowable level of nitrous oxide emissions, rather than (up to) 40 times. Volkswagen used a different “defeat device” for the 3.0-liters, meaning less drastic measures are needed to bring the engine into compliance.

In May, sources close to the case said the fix will probably be in the form of new software, though there’s a possibility of a catalytic converter swap.

On June 28, Volkswagen agreed to pay just over $10 billion to buy back or fix about 475,000 VW and Audi vehicles equipped with 2.0-liter diesel engines, and compensate their owners. Another $4.7 billion was split between an environmental fund for pollution-reducing programs and its own zero-emission vehicle development plans.

A further $603 million went to settle lawsuits in 44 U.S. states, bringing the tally to $15.3 billion.

[Image: Porsche Cars North America]