VW faces daunting challenges in fixing emissions cheating - The Washington Post
▻http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/vw-faces-daunting-challenges-in-fixing-emissions-cheating/2015/09/27/3cbebd46-6564-11e5-bdb6-6861f4521205_story.html
Volkswagen faces daunting challenges in fixing software that enables cheating on diesel engine emissions tests, a task that’s becoming more urgent because of growing anger from customers.
The company has set aside $7.3 billion to pay for the scandal. But experts say it’s likely to cost much more as VW tries to comply with U.S. clean air regulations while appeasing diesel owners who paid extra for the cars, thinking they could help the environment without sacrificing performance.
“We understand that owners of the cars affected by the emissions compliance issues are upset,” VW said on a consumer website launched Sunday. The company asked for patience and said it would address the issue as fast as it can. A spokeswoman wouldn’t comment further.
But experts said VW will have to strike a careful balance to appease government regulators, make customers happy and avoid emptying the company cash box. A cheap remedy of software fixes likely would hurt performance and gas mileage, further antagonizing customers. A more expensive fix that adds a treatment system wouldn’t hurt performance, but it would cost thousands per car and by one analyst’s estimate, could total more than $20 billion including vehicles in the U.S. and Europe.
That’s in addition to a potential $18 billion fine in the U.S. and the cost of numerous class-action lawsuits alleging that VW’s cheating reduced the value of its customers’ cars.