{"id":100768,"date":"2015-11-09T15:25:53","date_gmt":"2015-11-09T20:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=100768"},"modified":"2015-11-09T15:25:53","modified_gmt":"2015-11-09T20:25:53","slug":"vw-offering-diesel-owners-goodwill-gift-cards-vouchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2015\/11\/vw-offering-diesel-owners-goodwill-gift-cards-vouchers\/","title":{"rendered":"VW Offering Diesel Owners Goodwill Gift Cards, Vouchers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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VW owners won't lose their right to sue the company by accepting the goodwill offerings.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Owners of Volkswagen vehicles involved in a diesel cheating scandal are set to receive $1,000 in gift cars and vouchers, as well as free roadside service, as part of a goodwill gesture, the maker announced Monday.<\/p>\n

The move affects owners of 482,000 vehicles equipped with VW\u2019s 2.0-liter EA-189 diesel engines sold in the U.S. over a seven-year period. In September, the Environmental Protection Agency charged that the maker had used a so-called \u201cdefect device\u201d to pass emissions tests, even though the vehicles produced far more pollution in real-world use, allegations the automaker subsequently confirmed.<\/p>\n

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A Global Perspective!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

VW also revealed the suspect software was installed on a total of 11 million vehicles sold worldwide. And while the German maker plans to begin installing a fix as early as January, repairs could take significantly longer in the U.S. because VW has not come up with a solution accepted by the EPA.<\/p>\n

“We are working tirelessly to develop an approved remedy for affected vehicles,” said Volkswagen Group of America CEO Michael Horn. “In the meantime we are providing this goodwill package as a first step towards regaining our customers’ trust.”<\/p>\n

A similar program will be initiated by VW\u2019s luxury subsidiary Audi later this week. The EA-189 engine has also been used in some versions of that maker\u2019s A3 model.<\/p>\n

(VW, Porsche and Audi order stop-sale of suspect diesels. <\/em>Click Here<\/a> for the story.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

VW is facing as much as an $18 billion fine for violating the Clean Air Act, and potentially serious penalties that could be levied as part of an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Justice Department. Separately, more than 300 lawsuits have been filed on behalf of owners of the affected VW diesels.<\/p>\n

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Audi will announce a similar move this week.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The automaker said there are \u201cno stipulations\u201d linked to the gift cards and vouchers. Owners will not be required to relinquish their rights to sue VW, nor will accepting the goodwill gesture limit their eligibility for further compensation in the future, according to a company spokesperson.<\/p>\n

But the measure adds perhaps another $500 million to the cost of resolving the scandal. VW has already set aside about $7.3 billion to cover the problem, though various analysts have warned the eventual cost could be anywhere from five to 10 times more.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t even account for any increases in the cost of servicing VW\u2019s debt. On Monday, Fitch followed a move last week by Moody\u2019s to downgrade the company\u2019s rating. Fitch took VW\u2019s debt down an unusual two notches, citing the “possibility of further problems still to be uncovered.”<\/p>\n

(VW engineers admit to cheating. <\/em>Click Here<\/span><\/a> for that story.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Complicating matters, the EPA has accused VW of cheating on emissions tests involving vehicles using a larger, 3.0-liter diesel. That includes products also sold by the Audi and Porsche brands. VW has denied that allegation but revealed that it has discovered \u201cirregularities\u201d involving another 800,000 vehicles.<\/p>\n

A report in Germany\u2019s Bild am Sonnstag newspaper, meanwhile, indicated that several VW engineers have acknowledged cheating on emissions test. The newspaper said that an internal investigation has found that they acted under a corporate culture of fear that would not tolerate them failing to meet aggressive emissions targets set by former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn, who resigned shortly after the scandal broke.<\/p>\n

Analysts say the new gift cards and vouchers are unlikely to impact the legal tsunami rolling towards VW. Owners of the affected diesel products have already seen a sharp decline in the value of their vehicles, according to reports by the Black Book, and others tracking used car prices. VW earlier announced a $2,000 trade-in allowance for diesel owners looking to buy another one of the maker\u2019s products.<\/p>\n

(Investors flee as VW problems mount. <\/em>Click Here<\/a> for the latest.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Owners of Volkswagen vehicles involved in a diesel cheating scandal are set to receive $1,000 in gift cars and vouchers, as well as free roadside service, as part of a goodwill gesture, the maker announced Monday. More from TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100768"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100768"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=100768"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=100768"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=100768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}