Volkswagen has betrayed the customer trust by intentionally engineering software to cheat on emissions testing. People who purchased these vehicles were misled by their fraudulent action, and made large purchases - frequently still in debt to Volkswagen Credit - under false pretense.
Volkswagen's $500 prepaid Visa does little to offset the reduced resale value - many times up to 20x larger than the gift card offer. Further, acceptance of this tiny settlement may prevent participation in a larger class action lawsuit - yet another abuse of the customer's trust.
Volkswagen should be required to repurchase the impacted vehicles from the victims of this fraud. The US regulators should require VW to do so, if it (+Audi, Porsche, etc.) intends to continue selling vehicles in the US