A US judge gave Volkswagen (VW) time till 21 April to come up with a plan to fix some 600,000 cars spewing illegal levels of pollutants due to emissions-cheating software. “This issue of what is to be done with these cars must be done by that date,” US District Court Judge Charles Breyer told attorneys of the German automaker during a status hearing.
If a concrete plan for getting the cars fixed or off the roads was not submitted by the deadline, “the court would seriously consider whether to hold a bench trial this summer so that the polluting cars can be addressed forthwith,” Breyer said.
VW, which until recently had ambitions to become the world’s biggest carmaker, is battling to resolve its deepest-ever crisis sparked by revelations that it installed emissions-cheating software into 11 million diesel engines worldwide. The software, known as a “defeat device”, limits the output of toxic nitrogen oxides to US legal limits during emissions test by regulators. But when the vehicles are in actual use, the software allows them to spew poisonous gases at up to 40 times the permitted levels, giving the vehicle better acceleration and fuel economy.
VW is facing a slew of legal suits, notably in the United States and Germany, from angry car owners, as well as from shareholders seeking damages for the massive loss in the value of their shares since September.
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