Attorney: Volkswagen believes some vehicles can be fixed

The settlement comes after allegations [complaint, PDF] from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California Attorney General’s Office and the California Air Resources Board [official websites] relating to Volkswagen’s use of devices meant to cheat emission tests by using illegal software to alter engine functions when testing equipment was present.

Lawyer Robert Giuffra told a federal judge Thursday that Volkswagen believes the fix for vehicles with 3-liter engines wouldn’t be complicated and would bring them up to their original standard. Those cars include the 2014 Volkswagen Toureg, 2015 Porsche Cayenne and 2016 Audi Q5.

Buybacks will begin this October, and owners of cars that fall under the settlement’s parameters have until 2018 to decide what to do with their vehicles.

The remaining 85,000 vehicles caught up in the scandal have 3-liter engines.

VW gave assurance on Tuesday it would be able to manage the financial consequences of the USA settlement, which it placed within the scope of its 16.2 billion euros ($17.9 bln) of provisions made to cover the costs of the manipulations, but said its evaluation of the financial risks might change. Most owners are expected to receive between $5,100 and $10,000 in compensation for the cars, regardless if they sell them back.

Breyer reminded lawyers Thursday that he hasn’t approved that settlement yet.

A separate resolution with US states settles state-level customer protection claims. More penalties, along with further damage to VW’s reputation, may yet spring from criminal probes in the U.S., Germany and South Korea. So the complete settlement value is more than $15 billion. On Tuesday, the company said the settlement was within the scope of the provisions it has already made and repeated that its assessment of financial risk might be revised.

The lawsuit, filed in September, alleged that Volkswagen falsified the emissions data on approximately 500,000 diesel cars sold in the U.S. The case was filed in federal court days after the automaker admitted that it had been deceiving regulators and the public for years.

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