VW Group settles lawsuits over alleged fuel economy overestimation

Owners of certain Volkswagen Group models are on a payday, if modest. VW Group of America said on Friday that a settlement has been reached with plaintiffs on a lawsuit alleging that VW deliberately exaggerated the fuel economy in a selection of vehicles.

The settlement is worth $ 96.5 million and does not include an admission of guilt by Volkswagen. The automaker will also adjust fuel economy figures for 98,000 vehicles sold between 2013 and 2017 at 1 kilometer per gallon to reflect US labeling requirements.

Owners and tenants will be paid from the settlement fund to pay them for extra money spent on fuel based on allegedly false fuel economy ratings. Payments will depend on the length of ownership with a sum of $ 5.40 to $ 24.30 on the way to owners for each month they owned or leased the vehicle. However, the figures are still subject to legal approval.

Furthermore, VW said it would adjust its greenhouse gas credits with EPA to remove any additional credits it received from the fuel economy variance. Eventually, the owners will have to file a claim, but the process for doing so is not yet ready.

EPA began investigating the gasoline-powered vehicles following VW's 2015 diesel scandal . Testing from The California Air Resources Board and EPA found transfer software that caused the models to change differently during government testing to provide better fuel economy than in the real world. According to EPA, the software was present on 1 million vehicles, but only the 98,000 cars were discovered with lower fuel consumption.

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