Volkswagen and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been working under a judge's deadline to come to an agreement on a fix for the company's diesel emission issues. That deadline was March 24, but it has now been extended until April 21. But there is a catch: If both parties cannot come to an agreement in the next month, the issue may go to trial.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer presided over a hearing that allowed him to address the current situation. There are some 600,000 VW's in the U.S. today that must be repaired to comply with government emissions standards.Their sales have also taken a major hit since the EPA broke the news last September that the German auto maker had been cheating on their emissions testing, while claiming that their TDI diesels were "green."
According to the court transcript, Judge Breyer was convinced that the delays in VW's ability to provide a fix unable to announce "what that resolution is because there continues to be engineering technicalities and other important issues that need to be resolved." Therefore, he provided them with a one month extension.
However, per the court transcript, Breyer said that "if no concrete proposal is made by April 21, then on that date, the Court will set a schedule for determining whether the claims for declaratory, injunctive, and equitable relief can be resolved this summer. In other words, as suggested by plaintiffs, the Court would seriously consider whether to hold a bench trial this summer on such relief so that the polluting cars can be addressed forthwith."
Breyer asserted that any fix could be something as simple as a recall to modify existing cars so that they can remain on the road while conforming to government regulations, to something as major as a vehicle buyback by Volkswagen. He also ordered that he be provided with weekly status updates from VW, and that they release any and all relevant and non-confidential information to the public for their benefit.