VW given fix deadline
A U.S. federal judge has put Volkswagen on the clock.
U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer told the automaker this week he wants to hear about a possible fix for its emission issues by March 24. The California-based court is overseeing hundreds of class-action lawsuits filed against the OEM.
He instructed lawyers for the company he wanted to know about available technical solutions to remedy the roughly 600,000 vehicles outfitted with a defeat device that helped the company cheat on emissions tests.
“It’s an ongoing harm that has to be addressed,” Breyer said. “I’ve found the process is a function of how much time people have available to fill. The story about lawyers is that that if you give them a year to do something, it will take them a year to do something. If you give them 30 days to do something, they’ll do something in 30 days.”
According to the Associated Press, Volkswagen is currently in settlement negotiations with firms representing owners of affected vehicles along with the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board.
The U.S. Justice Department also filed suit in January for up to $46 billion for violating emission regulations.
The news agency reported the judge said the company shouldn’t necessarily wait for all those issues to be settled to take some sort of some action towards fixing the vehicles.
Volkswagen AG said last week it had successfully completed modification of over 50 per cent of the first wave of technical measures for EA189 engines affected by the NOx issue in Germany.
By last Thursday, new engine control software had been installed in some 4,300 Volkswagen Amarok. The vehicle now meets the limits required to comply with the EU5 emissions standard.
- With files from The Associated Press
