Volkswagen Reportedly Wants US to Green-Light Dieselgate Settlement Without an Emissions Fix

Volkswagen is seeking final approval on its $14.7 billion Dieselgate settlement before receiving a go-ahead from U.S. officials in regards to a fix that would fully improve emissions in its its 482,000 rule-breaking cars on American soil. And the judge in charge of the case says he is “strongly inclined” to go through with it.

VW’s settlement for cars equipped with its 2.0-liter engine came in June, but it is slated to be seen by a federal judge in San Francisco on Tuesday. As of now, the EPA has not seen a proposal from VW that could successfully bring the law-breaking cars up to acceptable levels of emissions, Automotive News reports.

Federal judge Charles M. Breyer of the Northern District of California, who has been overseeing the case, announced in a statement that he is inclined to approve the settlement as it is. He has until October 25th to provide a final ruling. A formal fix from VW will not be looked at by U.S. officials until the settlement is finalized.

If Volkswagen is unable to come up with a suitable solution for its dirty diesels, it could be forced to spend billions of dollars to buy back all the vehicles that came equipped with the emissions standards-cheating devices in the United States. The same may also go for VW’s 3.0-liter diesel engines that are unable to legally meet emissions standards in their current form.

So far, VW’s talks with the EPA have reportedly gone smoothly, but the carmaker has faced speed bumps due to the California Air Resources Board. Previously, CARB officials have shot down two of VW’s recall strategies: One, in January, for the 2.0-liter engines, and one in July, when the automaker came to the agency with a strategy for cars with its 3.0-liter motors.

If the automaker does go ahead with the car buy-back plan for its 2.0-liter models, so far, it has allocated up to $10 billion to do so. VW has also set aside $2.7 billion to give to federal and California officials for pollution-reducing civil works projects and an additional $2 billion for new clean technology