VW granted extra month to reach settlement on emissions fix
News
29 Mar 2016
US district court judge Charles Breyers has issued Volkswagen (VW) and US regulators with another month to reach a settlement that would include a fix for some 600,000 diesel vehicles in the US.
The news comes after it was reported by VW, the EPA and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) that they had not reached an agreement on a recall, owner compensation or a penalty to regulators.
It followed several months of talks between the parties after the Department of Justice filed a complaint in federal court against VW alleging violations of the Clean Air Act after CARB rejected VW’s proposed technical fix.
One of the reasons for the delay in settlement is reported to be the feasibility of a complete technical fix for 600,000 vehicles which would bring them into compliance with US regulations. A source from CARB also indicated that a complete solution may not be achievable for a portion of the affected vehicles. Parties were also said to be discussing the possibility of allowing some VW cars to remain on the road with only a partial fix.
The stakeholders now face an 21 April deadline to reach a settlement or risk a trial that will likely end with a court-imposed order on most if not all issues.
