class action suits, sue vw and vw jetta

[havaneselover]

GM recalled 30 million vehicles at a cost of $4.1 billion dollars. Plus there is victim compensation through an ongoing fund to pay victim's families and those injured but not killed by the ignition switch problems. GM weathered the storm, VW will as well.

Many people continued to purchase GM cars even knowing that top management knew about the deaths linked to ignition switch defects and did nothing for years. How unethical is GM's management? I hope you don't own one of their vehicles either, given your strong feelings of morality. But in the end, the loss of human life, unethical behavior of GM and potential future injury to individuals didn't stop people from purchasing GM's cars, I doubt in the end it will hurt VW too much to have an emissions scandal. If anything, VW might come out better, given that they have more diversity in their auto group. They don't just own VW, but also Audi, SEAT, Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti, Porsche, Lamborghini, Scania and a few others.

Wow! You are taking this very personally. Nope. Don't own a GM and never have.

According to your figures GM spent $137/recalled vehicle. VW is already offering $1000 and they haven't even begun to fix the problem. VW also faces enormous potential fines.

Neither of us has a crystal ball and knows whether or not VW will survive. There are plenty of articles from reputable sources questioning this but ultimately time will tell.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Not taking this personally. I actually had that thought about you, since you went off on an ethics lecture.

Also, VW is offering $1000 to US car owners. $500 of which is a credit for VW service/products which is probably a net cost of less than $200. Also, as you mentioned there are 11 million vehicles affected, but a very small percentage of those cars are in the United States. Diesel just isn't a big seller in the States. Most of the cars affected are in Europe and there is a decent possibility that the software is not actually illegal in Europe. This would mean that the net effect of the problem will be very small indeed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/business/international/vw-scandal-eu-emissions-tests.html

 

[havaneselover]

Not taking this personally. I actually had that thought about you, since you went off on an ethics lecture.

Also, VW is offering $1000 to US car owners. $500 of which is a credit for VW service/products which is probably a net cost of less than $200. Also, as you mentioned there are 11 million vehicles affected, but a very small percentage of those cars are in the United States. Diesel just isn't a big seller in the States. Most of the cars affected are in Europe and there is a decent possibility that the software is not actually illegal in Europe. This would mean that the net effect of the problem will be very small indeed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/business/international/vw-scandal-eu-emissions-tests.html

Because I mention that the company's ethical lapse will make consumers wary of purchasing its products, I'm taking this personally???

I feel sorry for the OP and everyone else who was cheated by VW and now owns a car worth a lot less than it was 3 months ago. I doubt they will every be fairly compensated.

 

[tvguy]

GM's current market cap is $55 billion. There were 124 deaths linked to the ignition problem. It's tragic but not going to put much of a dent in their market cap. VW's market cap is $52 billion. There are 11 million vehicles affected worldwide. Even if they spend $1000 per vehicle they are out $11 billion. Maybe it's already priced in to their current market cap. Anyway, I wouldn't buy one now but I really wasn't likely to buy one before I understood how unethical their management was.

There are a couple of issues.
1) 10 years ago some auto experts experts said light diesel cars would never be able to meet emissions laws. Mysteriously VW found a way.........now we discover they didn't. So the question is, CAN they be fixed.
2) The criminal penalties being considered alone could bankrupt them.
3) Any civil lawsuits would be on top of the criminal penalties.

VW may go the way of Saab.

 

[seashoreCM]

An example of a bad settlement: A voucher good only towards the purchase of another Volkswagen.

A similar result came from one class action lawsuit many years ago involving GM and certain Chevy pickup trucks.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

The $500 credit for parts/service at VW dealerships is to placate the dealers, not the owners. VW dealers are livid, as diesel vehicles make up a third of their US sales and right now they can't sell them. 2016 diesels have DEF technology which makes them compliant, but adds weight and cost to the vehicle, as well as maintenance ramifications.

The US will probably make VW remove the cheater software off vehicles to register them. This will lower fuel economy or engine performance. There is no way to preserve both without the software.

VW is being investigated in countries around the world for fraud. It is being projected that their Diesel engines won't meet some of the European regulations either.

So while they probably won't go under, this is going to hurt their reputation around the world, and therefore their pockets.

 

[pryncess527]

Clark Howard just posted about this issue on Facebook:

Accepting money from Volkswagen for the emissions cheating scandal could prohibit you from suing the company down the road! Here's what you need to know: http://bit.ly/1NrCrWv

If you accept the money from Volkswagen, it could hurt you later.

The Clark Howard link says
The Los Angeles Times did some digging and discovered that clause 11 of the Goodwill Package Cardholder Agreements may prohibit you from suing the company down the road.

but the fine print on the offer I got from VW specifically said, " Affected customers eligible for the Goodwill Package are not required to waive their rights or release their claims against Volkswagen Group of America in order to receive the Package."

I wonder where this cardholder agreement is . . . I can't seem to find it online. Maybe it only comes with the actual package.