EU says VW repairs most cars with cheating devices

[BRUSSELS]  German auto giant Volkswagen has fixed millions of cars found with emissions cheating software since a 2015 scandal, but must do more to satisfy consumers, the EU said Monday.

"Volkswagen has largely fulfilled the action plan they promised, EU consumer affairs commissioner Vera Jourova said.

However, she said the firm's attitude to European car owners was one of "think small," borrowing a slogan from the automaker in 1959 to draw consumers to smaller cars.

In the United States, Volkswagen agreed to pay compensation to owners and dealers.

Ms Jourova said the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, and the national consumer authorities also "regretted that the company did not give a full and clear guarantee in case of problems after the repair."

The firm rolled out the action plan to fix emissions software after admitting in 2015 to having installed so-called defeat devices on 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide to cheat regulatory tests.

Ms Jourova said Volkswagen had repaired about 80 per cent of the 8.5 million cars in Europe found to have the defeat devices.

She said the repair rate varied from 96 percent of cars in Germany to 36 per cent of those in Romania but added customers who have not done so yet would have now until 2020 to have their cars repaired.

AFP