Today’s announcement is part of a series of state and federal agreements that will provide cash payments to affected consumers and require Volkswagen to buy back or modify certain VW and Audi 2.0-liter diesel vehicles.
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VW also agreed to put up $2.7 billion that EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said Tuesday would be used by government and tribal agencies to replace old buses, or fund new infrastructure at ports to reduce diesel emissions.
VW has agreed to either buy back or fix the vehicles and owners will get payments of $5,100 to $10,000.
That settlement also requires the company to institute a fix or buyback program, allowing current owners who have purchased their vehicle from a dealership or private party to sell the company back their vehicle or end their lease, or have it repaired, Williams outlined.
A third pot of money from the settlement will pay for repeated violations of the state consumer protection laws. There are now no EPA-approved fixes for the cars but a modification is being developed.
The automaker faced lawsuits from the state of California and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over the devices, and a settlement was officially announced Tuesday.
VW must pay $570 million nationwide because it knowingly marketed, sold and leased diesel vehicles equipped with the illegal software.
Beshear, whose office filed the suit against Volkswagen in Franklin Circuit Court in March, called the settlement “one of the best settlements that this commonwealth has seen in a long time by a company alleged to have violated our Consumer Protection Act”.
Volkswagen admitted last September that it had manipulated the emission system of 11 million vehicles worldwide in order to pass pollution tests.
The website said preliminary court approval could come July 26 with an anticipated rollout of the settlement program in the fall.
Volkswagen owners – including at least 21,500 in NY – can finally dump their cheatin’ cars, if they want to.
It will also have to compensate auto owners with anywhere between 5-thousand and 10-thousand United States dollars.
While this settlement relates to two-litre diesel engines, lawyers are still working on settlements for another 80,000 vehicles with three-litre diesel engines. IL can also apply for $97 million from an environmental settlement reached by the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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Beshear said Kentucky negotiated a settlement separately from other states.
