Volkswagen has agreed to recall an additional 83,000 vehicles and pay $250m to partially settle claims related to its emissions cheating scandal.
The company signed an agreement with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State of California, by and through the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the California Attorney General.
The deal aims to resolve civil claims regarding nearly 83,000 affected 3.0L TDI V6 diesel engine vehicles in the US.
The proposed consent decree includes provisions for a recall for about 63,000 vehicles and the buyback and lease termination or emissions modification (if approved) of around 20,000 older vehicles
The agreement is still subject to the approval of United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
Volkswagen Group of America president and CEO Hinrich J. Woebcken said: “The agreement announced by the Court today between Volkswagen and US environmental regulators is another important step forward in our efforts to make things right for our customers, and we support the efforts of the Court to bring about a fair and reasonable resolution of remaining 3.0L TDI V6 claims as quickly as possible.
“We are committed to earning back the trust of all our stakeholders and thank our customers and dealers in the United States for their patience as the process moves forward.”
The recall shall include 63,000 affected vehicles with models years 2013-2016 in Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche 3.0L TDI V6 vehicles with 2nd generation engines. These will be brought into compliance with emission standards to which they were certified.
If the company is not able to reach an agreement, it could buy back or terminate the leases of these vehicles and could also seek EPA and CARB to modify vehicles to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.
For about 20,000 vehicles, buy back and/ or lease termination with model years between 2009 -2012 Volkswagen and Audi 3.0L TDI V6 vehicles with 1st generation engines. If it receives approval from EPA and CARB, it could modify the vehicles to reduce the emissions and will allow the owners to keep the vehicles.
Apart from this, Volkswagen has also agreed to contribute $225m to the environmental remediation trust, established under its 2.0L TDI settlements in the US and to fully mitigate lifetime nitrogen dioxide emissions of the affected 3.0L TDI V6 engines.
It will also pay $25m to the CARB in the state of California to encourage the use of zero-emission vehicles.
