Nguyen: What to Do If You Own a VW Diesel Car
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Volkswagen has been advertising its “clean diesel” technology for years to induce consumers interested in protecting the environment to purchase its cars. The technology supposedly allowed the cars to get great gas mileage without sacrificing performance. Volkswagen has won awards for this “clean diesel” technology, like “Eco-friendly Car of the Year” for the Passat according to cars.com. What is it they say when something seems too good to be true?
On September 18, Volkswagen admitted that 11 million of Volkswagen and Audi diesel-engine cars are fitted with a so-called defeat device that activates pollution controls during tests but covertly turns the controls off when the car is on the road. This means there is a device in the car that allows it to cheat on emissions tests. Apparently, once the cars are on the road, they produce up to 40 times the nitrogen oxide pollutants allowed in the U.S.
The defeat device has been installed in models dating back to 2009. It is reported that 482,000 of those 11 million affected cars are in the U.S.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTSo what do you do if you own a Volkswagen or Audi that may be affected?
Right now, nothing. The cars are not unsafe to drive – they are just bad for the environment. In the U.S., you can’t even determine if your car is affected yet. While Volkswagen has launched a website that allows European owners to determine if their cars are affected by searching vin numbers, Americans and Canadians haven’t been afforded that capability yet.
Volkswagen is scrambling to fix this, so it is doubtful that we will have to wait long. Volkswagen has until 45 days after September 18 (the first week of November) to propose a plan to “fix” the cars to meet environmental regulations. Then Volkswagen and the government will draft a recall letter to send to all affected owners to tell them how to get their cars fixed.
The problem is that once the cars are fixed and the pollution controls are in place, the cars will probably not perform as well. I’m guessing the resale value will drop significantly. What is an aggrieved VW owner to do?
There have been lawsuits filed against Volkswagen in all 50 states including dozens of class-action suits. It is likely that all the lawsuits will be rolled into one big class-action suit and there will be a very large settlement amount to be divided among the class of plaintiffs. How much each owner will receive is hard to say.
Volkswagen faces billions of dollars in fines and its public image has taken a serious blow. Cars are recalled all the time and the manufacturers survive the scandals, but there has never been a case like this where a manufacturer was caught cheating red-handed. Only time will tell how Volkswagen will respond and if it can survive.
I’m sorry if you are still holding VW stock.
AiVi Nguyen is a business and trial lawyer with the Law Firm of Bowditch & Dewey, LLP.
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