SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Time is up for Volkswagen to meet a federal judge’s deadline to detail how it will make nearly 600,000 diesel cars rigged to cheat on emissions tests comply with clean air laws.
Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said he wanted to know the timing of the fix and any planned payments to vehicle owners by a court hearing set for Thursday. That is when a deal is expected to be announced between Volkswagen, the U.S. government and private lawyers for the automaker to buy back some of the vehicles and spend just over $1 billion to compensate owners, a person briefed on the matter said.
The agreement would give some owners the choice of having VW repair their cars or buy them back, but it does not include plans on how to repair the vehicles, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the deal hadn’t been made public.
Those plans, and the cost of the fixes, apparently are still under negotiation.
Compensation for car owners was among the details Breyer was seeking, but the judge was more focused on ending the ongoing pollution by getting the vehicles to comply with clean air laws.