[T]he attorney general says Vermont is playing a lead role in a multi-state investigation of Volkswagen, but resolution into whether the car company deceived consumers could take years.
Bill Sorrell says approximately 45 states and the District of Columbia are involved in the investigation his office announced in September. A small group of states have taken the lead, in a de facto “executive committee,” and Vermont is one of them.
Texas is already suing Volkswagen, according to the Texas Tribune, and New York and Illinois have served subpoenas to the company, according to the New York Times. Vermont is still in the investigative phase, and it’s “likely going to take some years,” Sorrell said.
Volkswagen admitted in September that 11 million cars sold in the past seven years have been built with “defeat devices” that allow the cars to pass emissions tests and appear environmentally friendly. The vehicles actually put out more emissions than legally allowed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or under state laws.
The cars affected are the Jetta, Golf, Passat and Audi A3 built from 2008 to present. Vermont has the second-highest per capita rate of ownership of those cars, according to Sorrell. There are about 3,000 of them on the road, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
“This is not a ‘Whoops,’” Sorrell said. “This is a kind of concerted effort to hide corporate actions that are harmful to people or the environment, and that sounds an awful lot like the allegations against the tobacco industry.”
The Attorney General’s Office has issued guidance to owners of vehicles involved in the Volkswagen emissions scandal, which affects 500,000 cars in the United States. Under Vermont’s consumer protection laws, Volkswagen dealers are considered consumers, according to Sorrell.
Vermonters who own the cars with defeat devices can join one of two class-action suits filed in Burlington and Bennington, the Attorney General’s Office says. They can demand arbitration under the so-called “Lemon Law.” They can also fill out a complaint form on the Attorney General’s website.
“This is likely to be an investigation that will take a long time,” Sorrell said. “I’d be very surprised if there is a prompt resolution, but even with the admissions that Volkswagen officials have already made, I think liability is clear.”
He said any criminal charges that federal prosecutors bring on Volkswagen would likely need to be resolved before the company addressed the civil allegations, which include the state-level consumer protection complaints.
In the meantime, Vermonters who own the cars can legally continue to drive them. The cars will pass inspection because the state continues to use equipment that is fooled by the emissions-avoiding technology, according to Capt. Jake Elovirta, the chief of safety at the Department of Motor Vehicles’ enforcement division.
“With the current inspection station testing equipment out there, there’s no way to know whether that car’s been equipped with a cutout device or not,” Elovirta said. “Right now we’re waiting to see. Obviously there will be some kind of direction as well at the federal level.”
Vermont’s Agency of Natural Resources is also involved in the issue. Deb Markowitz, secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, said in a statement last month that Volkswagen “has compromised Vermonters’ health by increasing pollutants that can aggravate respiratory conditions like asthma, and threatened our crops and forests.”
Todd Bailey, a lobbyist in Montpelier, said his family bought a 2014 Jetta about a year ago. Those cars typically sell brand new for between $20,000 and $30,000; owners worldwide are claiming the cars are now devalued, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“We are still driving it,” Bailey said. “We don’t really have a choice at this point. We are right now in total limbo.”
“(They) haven’t even offered us a way to fix this from an environmental perspective,” he said. “We feel like we’re very much stuck in this ‘Benjy Vortex’ of no idea what’s going to happen, can’t get out of this car, stuck with this car, and can’t figure out how we’re going to get the situation rectified.”
Walker Volkswagen in Barre is offering to buy back used cars for 125 percent of their trade-in value and give current owners a $2,000 credit toward another used car in the month of October. But Bailey said he wants to be paid for the full value of what he paid for the car.
There are four Volkswagen dealers in Vermont: in Burlington, Barre, Rutland, and Manchester Center. VTDigger left messages at all dealerships but has not received responses.
