Some Iowa car owners in line for refund from Volkswagen

DES MOINES - More than 3,600 car owners in Iowa are in line for refunds ranging from $5,000 to $10,000, the result of a settlement with carmakers Volkswagen and Audi.

Volkswagen, which produces both vehicle brands, must pay the refund plus buy back or fix cars that were designed to manipulate emissions test results illegally, the Iowa Attorney General's Office announced Tuesday.

Iowa is among more than 40 states that participated in a class-action lawsuit.

'It was a fraud that is really troublesome in terms of its brazenness and in the sophisticated calculation and operation that they did and the danger to the environment,” Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said Tuesday at a news conference.

The vehicles that sparked the lawsuit were equipped with software that falsified emission test results. While Volkswagen marketed the vehicles as environmentally friendly, they emitted harmful nitrogen oxide at rates up to 40 times the legal limit, Miller said.

The affected vehicles, according to a list provided by Miller's office, include various model year 2009 through 2015 Volkswagen Jettas, Jetta Sportwagens, Golfs, Beetles and Passats, as well as Audi A3s.

The companies, as part of the $15 billion settlement, must send affected vehicle owners a restitution payment that Miller thinks will range between $5,000 and $10,000, depending on the vehicle's value as of September 2015, before news of the illegal software was reported.

Owners also will be offered a choice between a buyback based on pre-emissions value or a modification to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.

Volkswagen also must pay $2.7 billion for programs throughout the country to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions, commit another $2 billion to producing zero-emission vehicles and pay $570 million to states for violations of consumer protection laws.

Iowa will receive nearly $3.5 million for violations of its state consumer protection laws and roughly $20 million for the nitrogen oxide reduction programs. Miller said one possible example for use of the latter could be upgrading or replacing old school buses.

'The sophistication and the brazenness of this fraud, this scheme, is very troubling. The settlement, I think, reflects that. As it should,” Miller said. 'We feel good about resolving this.”

Because the settlement still requires a federal judge's approval, the recall program may not begin for several months, Miller's office said.

Volkswagen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.