Should VW Be Forced To Buy Back Cheating Diesels?

VW should be forced to die

Yes, VW should buy back their cars, just as other auto manufacturers did when their vehicles claimed to be making a much higher horse-power than actual tests proved... or just like those manufacturers who claimed their vehicles were 40mpg rated, when in actuality they barely made it to 30mpg..

I think that b/c VW installed actual "cheat" methods - whether software or hardware or a combination - is a good reason need to buy-back those vehicles. A mis-statement of fuel consumption ratings would be a reason to offer some type of monetary compensation to make-up for additional costs to the consumer.

An interesting article appeared over the weekend. Legally the EPA (or VW) cannot force owners to fix their cars. Interviews with some owners indicated that given the choice of loosing the fuel mileage and performance they love as a result of a fix or not fixing them, they would choose to keep on driving "as is". Not everybody is a strict environmentalist. Many states do no vehicle environmental testing, and for those states that do test, these VWs, as is, would pass their tests which are less strict and less sophisticated than the EPA test. The 70,000 in CA will be forced to be fixed, but the others, not so much.

This article's buyback calculations neglect to factor in VW reselling the vehicles outside of the USA. Ship the buybacks to Latin and South America, where they are perfectly legal, and likely sought after.

No they should not buy them back.

VW should be forced to give all their customers a "coupon" that can be used to buy a new, more emissions complying VW. Next, VW should be forced to buy a bunch of energy credits from one of the Obama administration's "eco-darlings" - Tesla, etc. to absolve it of its sins. This will give Tesla a new reason to live.

Forced is a strong word.

VW should be required to fix the vehicles to meet emissions standards and compensate vehicle owners for their inconvenience.

Only if VW can not retrofit the vehicles to meet the emissions standards, can one even consider the possibility of a vehicle buy-back program.

Clarification - VW should fix them to meet the applicable standards but then compensate the owners for loss of fuel economy and power in their vehicles by giving them a coupon for a new VW-group product.

VW should be savvy about the coupons and encourage a secondary market in them, where they can be sold and pooled to buy any product in the VW group from a Seat to a Bugatti. People would get the coupons, sell them for 50 cents on the dollar and then some savvy person can get himself a Veyron, Flying Spur, Panamera, etc on the cheap.

VW can peddle some slow moving product ("Flying Spur!") and at the same time settling the "damages".

I almost completely agree - with these exceptions - there are undoubtedly a number of these vehicles with very high mileage out there that would be cheaper to buy back than to fix- and those should be bought.

Compensation to the vehicle owners should include compensation for future loss of fuel mileage as well. However - I doubt that a coupon for a new VW will fly - especially with people who would refuse to buy another one - so it will have to be a cash offer. Ford made a cash offer when its Hybrids were found to be deficient in that regard.