The city is suing the owners, Toronto-based Triple Investment Group, for building, safety and zoning code violations.
Pontiac is suing the owners of the Pontiac Silverdome for failing to gain city approval for the storage of Volkswagen's cheating diesels.
The city is suing the owners, Toronto-based Triple Investment Group, for building, safety and zoning code violations. The Oakland Press reports six complaints were filed in the 50th District Court after the TDIs were stored in Pontiac without specific car storage permission on Feb. 27.
The complaints came about a month after Volkswagen's cheating diesels started filling the Silverdome parking lot like it was a Sunday afternoon in 1995.
"Our client is actively engaged and working with the city. We hope to resolve our differences with the city and we believe we are making good progress and working together," Patrick Lennon, who represented the Silverdome owners, told the Oakland Press. "We are still waiting on a schedule for (the hearing) but we are hopeful that we will resolve the differences in the meantime and further hearings won't be necessary."
Volkswagen has been storing vehicles bought back in its $15.3 billion settlement with consumers, regulators and U.S. states as a result of the automaker's emissions scandal at the Silverdome.
A spokesperson for the automaker declined to comment on the number of vehicles at the Silverdome, or on locations of other storage locations. As seen in the photos at the top of this post, it's clear that there are quite a few stored in the parking lot.
Once a buyback is complete, Volkswagen transports the vehicle from the dealership to one of its regional storage facilities like the Silverdome.
Once in storage, VW said it will regularly maintain the vehicles until an "approved emissions modification" takes place. The German automaker reports that vehicles not approved for emissions modification will be recycled.
VW has admitted to using software, known as a defeat device, in the 2009-2015 Audi A3 and the Volkswagen Beetle, Golf, Jetta and Passat TDI cars with 2.0-liter diesel engines to trick emissions tests. About 482,000 were sold in the U.S., and 11 million were sold globally.
The VW cars with 2-liter diesels 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.The company also admitted to using the software in some of its vehicles with 3.0-liter diesel engines.
The Pontiac Silverdome currently sits in ruins. The 82,000 seat dome opened in 1975 and became the home of the Detroit Lions. The Silverdome closed in 2006 and re-opened for a few years in 2010.