A short review and rumors...
VW has sent CARB the proposed fix for the 3.0 diesels.
Kenneth R. Feinberg has been hired by VW to handle the settlement situation. Kenneth has handled settlements on the GM faulty ignition case and the BP oil spill.
Kenneth has said that the settlements will be very generous. As many have pointed out, $1000 apology with no strings attached could be seen as generous, so where this goes... nobody knows.
I am hearing some strange rumors..
Lets start with the EPA has said from the beginning that 2012 to 2015 Passats would be a very easy fix and that the 2009 to 2011 earlier diesels would be the difficult fix.
But there are rumors that the reality is going to be the opposite. Remember that we are trying to bring the cars up to the emission standards at the time the cars were manufactured. So the later cars have a higher hurdle to clear.
The rumor is that all the later diesel Passats (the ones out of TN) are the vehicles that VW is finding impossible to bring up to the standards for the manufacture date. That these later vehicles are going to be the ones that can not be fixed. VW is going to have to attempt to buy back all of the 2012 to 2015 passats.
The 2009 to 2011 look like a fix is still possible. Hopefully we will get some real answers soon.
To get any additional settlement money, the rumor is that money will be paid out only after the fix is applied to your car. Apparently the EPA and VW is realizing that many owners like the car as it is now, and that getting some of the owners to bring in the cars is going to be a battle or perhaps impossible.
Assuming the rumor is true, my best guess is the "very generous" offer is going to be for owners of the later 2011 to 2015 Passats to trade into a new Passat at very little cost.
Last issue is will VW be required by the EPA to destroy all unfixable vehicles that VW repurchases or if VW will be allowed to send the out of the country is still up in the air. If you start with the premise that the vehicles are gross polluters, then the EPA should demand their destruction. Allowing them to pollute elsewhere is quite a hypocrisy.
There it is. Clear as mud on a windshield.
