Volkswagen’s U.S. unit has accepted a $42 million settlement concerning 1.35 million vehicles that were geared up with potentially dangerous Takata airbag inflators, the documents filed in U.S. District Court in Miami showed.
The settlement comes as the recent major news by major automakers and much of the funding goes to increasing recall completion rates. Until now, seven other major automakers have agreed to settlements worth about $1.5 billion covering tens of millions of automobiles.
The defect concerns rare instances of airbag inflators rupturing and sending dangerous metal fragments flying.
Over 400 injuries are tied to faulty Takata inflators and at least 28 deaths worldwide.
Ford earlier reached a $299.1 million civil settlement with owners, while BMW reached a $131 million settlement.
Takata is presently responsible for the largest auto recall in history. The recalls cover about 100 million inflators among 19 major automakers worldwide, including about 67 million inflators in the United States.
The Volkswagen settlement, like earlier ones, covers rental car and out-of-pocket costs, including lost wages and childcare costs, that owners had or may face getting automobiles repaired or while awaiting repairs.
Court documents say about 35% of the inflators in Volkswagen and Audi vehicles that have been or will be recalled are yet to be repaired.
