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Volkswagen describes a "chain of errors" that were allowed to happen, and has traced the origin of the scandal back to a decision to launch a big promotion of diesel vehicles in the U.S. in 2005.
The automaker was unable to come up with a legal way to meet much tougher U.S. limits on NOX emissions "within the required timeframe and budget," so it deployed software to rig the tests. Later, when a technical solution was available, it was not fully employed.
Still, the company continues to absolve the top executives and board of any responsibility.
"There are no indications that the supervisory board or the management board was involved," Poetsch said.

TheCatt wrote:But a whole bunch of people sound guilty.

"We still believe a relatively small number of employees were directly involved in manipulation," said Volkswagen chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch.

as many as 11 million vehicles around the world

6.7 billion euros to cover the cost of recalls

Owners of the 475,000 Volkswagen vehicles with 2-liter diesels covered under the settlement will receive payments ranging from $5,100 to $10,000 if they agree to the settlement. In addition, Volkswagen will either repair their cars to bring them into compliance with emissions laws — if it can figure out how to fix them — or buy back the cars or terminate the leases on them.

Buybacks will be worth at least $12,500 and are capped at $44,000.