Only a few of the affected cars are equipped with the urea system at all. Installing one is a possible fix, but it’s not clear whether that’s really going to be feasible or not. More likely the fix is going to be flashing the computers so the cars are in the de-tuned “emission test mode” all the time.
Of course even if the fix is to add in a urea system (or turn on an existing system so it actually uses an appreciable amount of fluid) that’s still something you as the owner might want to avoid, the lives of those 59 people notwithstanding.
In my experience the only one that get anything out of a Class Action suit are the lawyers, so it’s not surprising to see a lawyer promoting them.
Take a look at this case from the cite by Ravenman:
The woman got $9,867.
The class action suits are expected to pay out *“proposed settlements would give each class member $100 to $200, and the plaintiffs’ attorneys would get $8.4 million.”
*
So, you get 1% of the proper amount if you’re in a class action suit.
I have actually had several, where I got my letter- the letter explained i might get something like $5.
There’s no particularly insurmountable engineering hurtle to meeting the emissions standards (which I think was JZ’s point) it’s just that VW hasn’t been able to get a fix together fast enough in order to do the recertification that the EPA is demanding in time for them to sell any more 2016 model year TDI’s. Which, unfortunately for them, includes a whole bunch of cars they already built which are now in limbo.
You’ve mostly got it. They were able to make the engines pass on the test rolls, which means the cars are capable of meeting the standards. but the PCM calibration which enabled it to pass would have had enough trade-offs in driveability and/or fuel economy where it wouldn’t have been acceptable to customers. Basically the worst ones are the cars without selective catalytic reduction; they tried using a “lean NOx adsorber” and at test time they enabled a LOT more EGR flow to reduce the amount of NOx the engine was generating. But the “real world” calibration just overwhelmed the adsorber. Those cars are going to be costly to fix because they probably have no choice but to retrofit them with an AdBlue SCR system.
I wouldn’t do anything, because I detest the US compo culture and hate that it is growing over here also. I also wouldn’t pretend for one second that I was actually affected by the issue.
I bought a car because I was told it was low emissions, yet had high performance. Achieving #1 will almost certainly mean giving up #2.
Furthermore, the fact that VW just flat out lied about its product means that the value of the car has dropped by a few thousand dollars, most likely. If I had crashed the car and wrecked the frame, I can understand that the resale value of the car will be diminished because of my negligence. But why should I be stuck with a loss because a corporation literally lied through its teeth about its product?
I am most certainly not seeking to become wealthy for buying the wrong car. But I think it is fair to expect that I be made whole after being defrauded.
