WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday approved a fix for about 70,000 polluting Volkswagen 2.0-liter diesel vehicles.
The German automaker agreed to buy back up to 475,000 polluting 2009-2015 vehicles in June at a cost of as much as $10.033 billion, or fix them if regulators approved.
The vehicles covered by the approved fix are the 2015 diesel Volkswagen Beetle, Golf, Golf SportWagen, Jetta, Passat and 2015 diesel Audi A3.
The fix involves an initial software change available now. A second phase of the fix will start about a year from now when VW will install more software updates and new hardware, including a diesel particulate filter, diesel oxidation catalyst and NOx catalyst.
In October, a federal judge approved VW's settlement with regulators and U.S. owners of 475,000 polluting diesel vehicles with smaller 2.0-liter engines, including an offer to buy back or fix all of the cars.
VW is still waiting for approval for fixes for about 400,000 remaining 2.0-liter vehicles.
"With today's approval, VW can offer vehicle owners the choice to keep and fix their car, or to have it bought back," the EPA said in a statement, adding that test data demonstrated the fix would "not affect vehicle fuel economy, reliability, or durability."
