A spate of customer complaints has forced Volkswagen’s Australia operations to announce an active service campaign that could have implications for a number of Volkswagen models sold in the UK.
The customer complaints — many of which only came to light following the publishing of a coroner's report into the death of an Australian women, who died when her Volkswagen suffered an apparent sudden power loss and was rammed by a truck while traveling on a highway — involve both petrol and diesel models running either a standard manual or optional dual-clutch gearbox.
Among the service activities planned by Volkswagen Australia is the replacement of faulty diesel engine injectors as well as other fixes aimed at addressing concerns that include engines experiencing a sudden loss of power while driving at speed, DSG dual shift gearbox failures in stop/start driving conditions and various other faults that Volkswagen customers in Australia have identified.
Despite instigating the active service campaign, which comes after a widespread media report on an owner who abandoned her Volkswagen for fear of driving it, Volkswagen Australia confirms the action is not an official recall - something that would have much broader legal implications for the German car maker than a service activity.
Volkswagen has already announced a recall for its DQ200 dual shift gearbox in China, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia in a program involving over 500,000 cars. “We have identified problems in stop/start traffic conditions. It involves the mechatronics,” a Wolfsburg-based spokesman revealed to Autocar.
Up to now, Volkswagen models sold in the UK, Australia and New Zealand that the DQ200 dual shift gearbox, which is used in models with engines of less than 128lb ft of torque, have escaped the recall. It is thought the models affected include the Polo, Golf, Jetta, Passat and Passat CC.
Volkswagen has not commented.
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Three times in three years
I had a Passat as a company car. It let me down three times in three years. Never again. Rubbish cars.
Power Loss
The loss of power is a well documented problem here in the UK (a quick search of the internet, especially on the "Honest John" website, will bring up loads of information).
My car is one of the ones affected - a 2006 Passat 2.0 tdi with a DSG gearbox. Apparently there are certain models with the 2.0 tdi engine which are the ones affected - the ones which have Bosch Piezo fuel enjectors which can fail and shut down the engine (highly amusing at motorway speeds, I shouldn't think). Luckily when I took my car in for a service the local VW dealer (in Haywards Heath) automatically replaced all the injectors free of charge - apparently this is now part of a recall by VW here in the UK.
(Luckily I haven't had any problems with the car and it has proven very reliable and a pleasure to drive, if not quite up there with the Mondeos of this world on winding roads!).
Witch hunt by OZ Japanese centric media
The whole event amounts tonothing much more than a witch hunt by Fairfax et al. The coroner's findings have not been published. The car in which the unfortunate lady was traveling was a 2009 Golf GTI manual. Mass hysteria whipped up by those who are envious of VWs double digit annual growth over past five years. Here in Oz the tabloid media know little or nothing about the finer points of cars and spent most of their time regurgitating press releases. The absolute irony of it all is that Toyota who have resorted to a 5 year warranty in the UK to shore of sales in light of recall after recall sell 1 in every 5 of new cars sold here. Tragic. Cars as appliances.
Jockoz wrote: The whole
Interesting to learn that Australia has a Japanocentric media. The U.K. has a Germanocentric motoring media.
Japanocentric press?
I don't think that's the case, though Japanese cars are far and away the biggest sellers here, particularly Mazda3, Toyota Corolla, Hilux and Camry. It's interesting to note that two utes (Hilux and Nissan Navara) are in the top ten sellers.
I think the motoring press is reasonably balanced, though it does devote a lot of attention to Mercedes and BMW, out of proportion to their sales here. There has certainly been a lot of anti-VW editorialising in the Fairfax media and to a lesser extent on the ABC.