A U.S. federal judge has approved a $15.3 billion settlement by Volkswagen AG with owners of cars affected by its diesel-emission scandal.
DETROIT - A federal judge on Tuesday approved a $15.3 billion settlement by Volkswagen AG with owners of cars affected by its diesel-emission scandal.
The settlement also resolves claims with 44 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and comes after the German automaker admitted in September 2015 to using a "defeat device" to cheat on U.S. emissions tests.
But a bulk of the settlement - about $10 billion - will be set aside for consumer compensation. Volkswagen has agreed to buy back or terminate the lease on the some 475,000 cars in the U.S. affected by the scandal. Owners can also have their vehicles fixed, free of charge.
Regardless of whether owners choose to have their vehicles fixed or bought, they will receive cash payments ranging from $5,100 to about $10,000 per vehicle, depending on the car's age.
Owners of the affected cars will be able to receive compensation or have the company buy the car back next month.
The settlement also includes $2.7 billion to be put into a mitigation trust to fund environmental remediation, and another $2.0 billion to go toward promotion zero-emissions vehicle technology.
Volkswagen has admitted to using the cheat software in the 2009-2015 Audi A3 and the VW Beetle, Golf, Jetta and Passat TDI cars with 2-liter diesel engines.
The affected cars would meet emissions standards tests in a laboratory or testing station, but in normal operation, they emit nitrogen oxides at up to 40 times the standard, according to the EPA.