California Regulator Responds to Volkswagen's 3.0-Liter Diesel Fix With a Resounding 'Nope'

California’s Air Resources Board wants nothing to do with Volkswagen’s proposed fix for its 3.0-liter VW, Audi and Porsche TDI models equipped with emissions-cheating defeat devices.

The regulator rejected the automaker’s plan yesterday, and later issued a release calling it “incomplete and deficient in a number of areas.” For Volkswagen, CARB’s rejection is a major setback to its goal of settling the rest of its diesel emissions scandal fallout without another expensive buyback program.

Volkswagen will spend $15.3 million to settle claims and buy back (or fix) 475,000 2.0-liter TDI models in the U.S., but it hoped its 3.0-liters would side-step that fate with a technical fix. Though the scandal affects fewer 3.0-liter vehicles, they’re much more high-end than the smaller displacement models.

Just last month, company representatives stated in court that fixing the 85,000 U.S. vehicles would be easy.

CARB’s decision affects about 16,000 vehicles in California. The bigger problem for the automaker is that any nationwide fix needs approval from both the Environmental Protection Agency and CARB.

In its letter to the company, CARB said the automaker’s submissions are “incomplete, substantially deficient, and fall far short of meeting the legal requirements to return these vehicles to the claimed certified configuration.”

The proposal’s failures were many. Among other issues, it didn’t describe the undisclosed defeat devices on the affected vehicles, failed to estimate the fix’s effect on fuel economy and performance, and didn’t say what emissions levels regulators could expect (or how the vehicle would maintain compliance over time).

Discussions between the automaker, CARB and the EPA continue, but Volkswagen’s dream of wrapping up its U.S. troubles in anything resembling a hurry seems dashed.

[Image: Porsche Cars North America]