German regulators have approved a plan to fix many of Volkswagen's emissions-cheating diesel engines, at least the ones in Europe. VW will begin informing owners of the fix soon and cars should start getting fixed late next month.

The fixes shouldn't take more than an hour, according to Volkswagen, which says developing "customer-friendly solutions" was important. It's also important for the company, which has millions of cars to fix and it could be years before that monumental task is complete and VW can begin to move past it.

All 1.2- and 2.0-liter engines will get a software update that should take about half an hour, while the 1.6-liter TDI will get the software update and a "flow rectifier" in front of the air mass sensor. 2.0-liter engines will go first, then 1.2-liter in the second quarter of 2016, and the 1.6-liter engines will be fixed beginning in the third quarter. It appears to be the same fix VW talked about last month.

A customer-friendly solution that involves a "flow rectifier"

VW claims that these fixes will allow the vehicles to meet emissions standards "with the aim" of achieving this without harming "engine output, fuel consumption, or performance." Of course, if they could meet emissions standards with a software fix without hurting performance, why didn't they just do that to begin with?

These fixes do not apply to Volkswagens in the US or Canada. It also doesn’t apply to the company’s 3-liter diesels that were later pulled into the scandal. But, it's a good sign that the company is fixing any at all.