Volkswagen has a lot to worry about with respect to its diesel-emissions cheating scandal. On the civil side, it’s already anticipating divvying out $15 billion to make right with regulators, states, and customers over hundreds of thousands of diesel vehicles that contain a software-based cheat allowing them to emit many times the permissible amount of nitrogen oxide.
While the settlement with U.S. regulatory authorities largely resolved VW's obligations to the federal government, the automaker also faces potential criminal charges relating to the use of emissions-cheating software in some 482,000 Volkswagen and Audi vehicles sold in the U.S over the course of several years. However, the DOJ has not stated publicly the charges that may be pending against the automaker.
It’s possible the Justice Department will seek a guilty plea from VW, though the more likely option will be a deferred prosecution agreement, whereby the charges would eventually be dropped as long as VW adheres to an agreed upon settlement. The latter option was dealt in 2015 to General Motors Company over the automaker's defective ignition switches linked to 124 deaths, as well as in 2014 to Toyota which had concealed information about sudden acceleration cases. GM ended up paying $900 million while Toyota paid $1.2 billion.
When the U.S. Department of Justice and Volkswagen reach a deal—not likely now until early next year—a so-called “detailed statement of facts” that the automaker made for investigators is expected to be made public. We have a feeling that even with the facts clearly laid out, the story itself might still be hazy, and the question of why such deception ever made sense may remain unanswered.
