Judge gives preliminary approval to VW settlement

A federal judge has cleared the way for a massive settlement between Volkswagen and the United States to move forward. 

U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer on Tuesday gave his preliminary approval to the nearly $15 billion settlement in VW’s diesel emissions cheating scandal, USA Today reports. 

{mosads}The move allowed VW and its attorneys to begin collecting data from the car owners who are set to receive compensation as part of the settlement. 

Breyer’s decision doesn’t finalize the settlement deal, which VW and federal officials announced last month. The company still needs regulators to approve the fix it’s proposing in order to correct vehicles with the emissions issues that led to the company’s legal problems.

The judge said also he wants to hear comments from some of the 475,000 consumers covered by the settlement, USA Today reported. 

Volkswagen in June agreed to spend up to $14.7 billion in penalties and compensation to settle lawsuits stemming from last fall’s revelation that it installed software to dodge required emissions tests on several models of its diesel-fueled vehicles. 

More than $10.03 billion of that settlement will go to repairing or buying back VW and Audi cars with 2-liter diesel engines, with owners receiving up to $10,000 each to settle claims against the company. 

VW will also spend $2.7 billion on environmental mitigation efforts and $2 billion for research into zero-emission vehicles.