Volkswagen’s most recent scandal of falsifying emissions using ECU alternative programming has finally reached a verdict. Volkswagen was using programming to change the fuel pressure, exhaust-gas recirculation, injection timing, and in some models, the amount of urea fluid sprayed in the exhaust. With these vehicles in their “test” mode, they completely comply with all federal emission levels. However, when normally driven, the vehicles change to a standard mode, which most likely produces more power and gas millage, but emits an average of 40 times the federal limit.
The massive company is now forced to compensate all owners of the faulty vehicles, by up to $10,000 each, as well as a lease termination, offering a resale value of the car’s worth in September 2015, before the price drop from discovering the unqualified emission levels. Volkswagen has settled on paying $10.3 billion for owners of affected vehicles, $2.7 billion for an environmental remediation fund, and will be forced to invest $2 billion in promoting zero-emission technology to be implemented in future vehicles, as well as preexisting vehicles. The toll will undoubtedly be a heavy one for Volkswagen, seeing that almost 500,000 diesel-powered vehicles already in the hands of consumers will be affected.
Consumers will be given the option to bring in their “malfunctioning” vehicle for modifications as soon as Volkswagen has made proper updates and makes alterations available for mass implementation.
Volkswagen faces similar, expensive settlements in the near future in regards to their 3.0-liter engines. Similar problems have been linked to nearly 85,000 vehicles, most of which are Audis and Porsches. Everybody has an eyebrow raised and an ear open to see what the future of Volkswagen looks like.
