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EC Turns Up the Pressure on VW to Compensate Diesel Owners

The European Commission is coordinating with consumer groups and EU member regulators to push Volkswagen AG to pay compensation to 8.5 million customers in Europe who bought vehicles equipped with diesels that had been doctored to evade emission limits.
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The European Commission is coordinating with consumer groups and EU member regulators to push Volkswagen AG to pay compensation to 8.5 million customers in Europe who bought vehicles equipped with diesels that had been doctored to evade emission limits.

VW has agreed to pay about 475,000 similarly affected U.S. customers between $5,100 (€4,600) and $10,000 (€11,000). The company has refused to make restitution in Europe, arguing that it is bringing the affected engines into compliance with European standards. In the U.S., it will buy back most of the cheater cars because fixing them is too expensive.

The EC is working with consumer advocates and national officials because it has no direct authority to force VW to pay. European consumers also have no counterpart to the U.S. class-action lawsuit, which enables large groups of affected plaintiffs to collectively sue for relief.

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