While House Republicans are trying to bail out Volkswagen from legal liability, the U.S. Justice Department filed suit against the company Monday over the its massive emissions test cheating on nearly 600,000 cars sold in the U.S.
But despite a pledge by the Justice Department in September to go after executives responsible for corporate wrongdoing, federal prosecutors stopped short of criminal charges and did not single out individuals. They did question Volkswagen’s efforts to restore its credibility, accusing the company of being uncooperative — even recently — with regulators.
The civil complaint was filed in Detroit on Monday. In September, Volkswagen admitted that it had installed the software created to cheat on emissions tests in 11 million of its diesel vehicles worldwide, setting off one of the largest corporate scandals in the auto industry.[…]
Justice Department officials said that the complaint represented the first step in legal action against Volkswagen and did not preclude a criminal charge or the targeting of specific executives. Environmental and public health advocates said the government should push forward with further charges. “The government should follow up with criminal charges against both VW and its management to protect our health from auto pollution and signal other automakers that it will throw the book at any company that follows VW’s lead,” Dan Becker, director of the safe-climate campaign at the Center for Auto Safety, wrote in an email.
The penalties allowed under the Clean Air Act could add up to more than $19 billion for the company; that's up to $32,500 for each 2-liter diesel car sold in the U.S., and up to $37,000 for the 3-liter vehicles sold here with the illegal software that cheated emissions testing. The threat of fines could force VW to find a fix for these vehicles sooner rather than later, and to work toward a fair settlement with all the VW owners they've cheated. That is, unless they're counting on a Republican Congress to bail them out from their obligation to their customers.