Another chapter in the long saga of Volkswagen and its scheme to hide emission levels in some of its vehicles has resulted in the manufacturer offering to buy back more tainted diesel cars and spend an additional $1 billion to settle the air pollution scandal.
The German automaker agreed to buy back tainted 3.0-liter engine vehicles sold between 2009 and 2012. The company will fix newer 3.0-liter cars.
Volkswagen will pay $225 million into a “national mitigation fund” to address air pollution effects from its tainted 3.0-liter engine vehicles. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) said $66 million would go to California, according to a report in the Sacramento Bee and on several automotive websites.
Volkswagen previous agreed to spend $14.7 billion to settle the same problem with its 2.0-liter engine vehicles. That total includes an estimated $10 billion to buy back vehicles from owners and $4.7 billion to be spent on air-pollution programs.
The newest settlement affects about 87,00 cars with 3.0-liter engines. Models include:
2009 VW Touareg, Audi Q7; 2010 VW Touareg, Audi Q7; 2011 VW Touareg, Audi Q7; 2012 VW Touareg, Audi Q7; 2013 VW Touareg, Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne Diesel; 2014 VW Touareg, Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne Diesel; 2014 Audi A6, A7, A8, A8L, Q5; 2015 Audi Q7, Audi A6, A7, A8, A8L, Q5; 2015 VW Touareg, Porsche Cayenne Diesel; and 2016 VW Touareg, Porsche Cayenne Diesel, Audi A6, A7, A8, A8L and Q5.
The previous announcement affected 11 million 2.0 liter VW engines globally, according to the carmaker and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The EPA, which unveiled its findings in September 2015, reported it found wide variations in emissions from VW cars that use a “defeat device” to fool emissions tests. The EPA then also announced was ordering VW to issue a recall for about 482,000 VW and Audi cars that have 4-cylinder turbo diesel engines.
Here’s a list of 2.0 vehicles, that contain “a sophisticated software device that circumvents EPA emissions standards for certain air pollutants,” according to the EPA:
Jetta (model year 2009–2015), Jetta Sportwagen (2009-2014), Beetle (2013–2015), Beetle Convertible (2013-2015), Audi A3 (2010–2015), Golf (2010–2015), Golf Sportwagen (2015), Passat (2012-2015)
Volkswagen still faces consumer lawsuits. A criminal investigation has also begun, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
Article Last Updated: January 25, 2024.