Volkswagen has agreed to pay nearly $15 billion to settle claims stemming from its diesel¹ emissions² cheating scandal in what would be one of the largest consumer class-action settlements ever in the United States.

大众汽车(Volkswagen)同意为其柴油机排放作弊丑闻支付近150亿美元和解金。这将是有史以来美国最大规模的消费者集体诉讼和解方案之一。

The proposed settlement, valued at $14.7 billion and involving the federal government and lawyers representing the owners of about 475,000 Volkswagen vehicles, includes just over $10 billion to buy back affected³ cars at their pre-scandal values, and additional cash compensation for the owners, according to two people briefed on the settlement’s terms.

两名知情人士透露，和解方案的总金额为147亿美元，涉及联邦政府及代表约47.5万大众车主的律师，其中100亿美元出头的金额用来回购汽车并对车主提供额外现金补偿，而回购价格以丑闻发生前的价值为准。

The cash compensation offered to each car owner will range from $5,100 to $10,000, depending on their market value before Volkswagen’s public admission last September that its supposed “clean diesel” cars had been deliberately⁴ designed to cheat on air-quality tests.

补偿给每个车主的现金从5100美元到1万美元不等，取决于大众去年9月公开承认作弊之前车辆的市场价值。涉事车辆本来应该是“清洁柴油”车，却经过有意的设计在空气质量测试中作弊。

Rather than sell their vehicles back to Volkswagen, car owners can also choose to have their vehicles fixed⁵ to meet emissions standards, although doing so would probably reduce the engines’ performance and gas mileage⁶. And the methods for fixing the vehicles that Volkswagen has proposed are still subject to approval by the Environmental Protection Agency, one of the federal parties to the case.

车主可以选择退货，也可以选择返修，从而让车辆达到排放标准，不过这样做很可能会降低发动机的性能，增加油耗。大众提出的车辆返修办法仍然需要得到美国国家环境保护局(Environmental Protection Agency)的批准。环保局是这宗案件的联邦当事方之一。

The settlement terms, first reported by Bloomberg News, are to be submitted on Tuesday to a federal judge in California whose final approval would be required for the deal to take effect.

彭博新闻社(Bloomberg News)率先报道了这项和解协议的条款。它将于本周二提交给加利福尼亚州的一位联邦法官进行最终审核，批准后方能生效。

Volkswagen would pay $2.7 billion into an E.P.A. fund, the two people said, to compensate⁷ for the environmental impact of its cars, which were fitted with software that enabled them to pass emissions tests but exceed legal pollution limits in on-the-road driving.

这两名知情人士称，大众将向环保局的一个基金支付27亿美元，以弥补这些汽车对环境造成的影响。车辆上装有能让它们通过排放测试的软件，但在公路上行驶时，它们的污染排放却会超过法律限值。

Volkswagen has also agreed to spend $2 billion on new cleaner-vehicle projects.

大众还同意在更加清洁的汽车新项目上投入20亿美元。

Despite the scope of the agreement, Volkswagen’s legal problems would be far from over.

尽管该协议范围有限，但大众的法律麻烦远远不止于此。

Volkswagen also faces a criminal inquiry⁸ by the Department of Justice, a lawsuit⁹ brought by the Federal Trade Commission and an investigation¹⁰ by attorneys general in 42 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The company is also under investigation in a number of other countries, including Germany and South Korea.

大众汽车还面临着由司法部进行的一起刑事调查、联邦贸易委员会(Federal Trade Commission)提起的一桩诉讼，以及42个州、哥伦比亚特区和波多黎各的司法部长进行的一项调查。德国和韩国等其他一些国家也在对该公司进行调查。

The German automaker acknowledged last year that it had installed illegal software in 11 million cars worldwide that made them capable of defeating pollution tests.

这家德国汽车生产商去年承认，它在全球1100万辆车上安装了非法软件，以便它们能通过排放检测。

During emissions testing, the cars’ pollution controls systems were turned on, curbing¹¹ toxic¹² emissions at the cost of engine performance. But those emissions controls were not fully engaged on the road, where its cars spewed nitrogen oxides at up to 40 times the levels allowed under the Clean Air Act.

在排放检测中，车辆的污染控制系统会被打开，遏制发动机性能，削减有毒物质的排放。但是，在道路上行驶时，这种排放控制系统并不会充分启动，汽车排放的氮氧化物会比《清洁空气法》(Clean Air Act)要求的水平高至多40倍。

The proposed settlement requires a review by United States District Judge Charles R. Breyer in California and must go through a period of public comment, during which terms could yet change.

这份草拟的和解方案需要加州的联邦地区法官查尔斯·R·布雷耶(Charles R. Breyer)进行审核，还必须经过一段公众评议期。在此期间，条款仍有可能更改。

Affected Volkswagen owners are not bound by the settlement, and some may decide to press for better terms.

受影响的大众车主不受这个方案的约束，其中一些车主可能会寻求更有利的条款。

The settlement does not include 3-liter Volkswagen diesel vehicles, which were fitted with another version of the cheating software.

该和解协议不涉及3升的大众柴油车。它们装有该作弊软件的另一个版本。

Nor will the deal address terms for the owners of 85,000 Volkswagen and Porsche cars sold in the United States that had a different type of diesel engine but also had emissions problems.

这项交易也不涉及在美国销售的另外8.5万辆大众与保时捷汽车。它们的柴油发动机类型不同，但也存在排放问题。