The BBC’s Watchdog consumer investigation programme will tonight focus on the spate of problems reported by owners following the fitment of a post-Dieselgate fix to their Volkswagen Group cars.
The programme is investigating owners’ claims that their cars went into limp-home mode unexpectedly after the fix. Volkswagen has said an "overwhelming majority" of its customers who have had the fix applied to their cars are happy with it.
You can read our findings from the Autocar post-Dieselgate test here and you can read the insight behind our investigation here: what does this mean for UK VW owners?
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Autocar has previously tested a car before and after the Dieselgate fix was applied. Although no outright faults were detected, the car gave poorer fuel economy and greater CO2 emissions after the update, despite NOx emissions being halved by the tweak.
Following the fix, the owner of the car tested by Autocar had been presented with a 'Certificate of Completion' that stated the performance, fuel economy, CO2 emissions, torque or noise of the car were all unaffected by the fix.
Volkswagen has already responded to the BBC’s investigation, which airs this evening at 8pm. VW said: “Implementation of the technical measures does not cause limp-home mode to engage nor does it increase the incidence of limp-home mode occurring. Limp-home mode is a safety feature of our, and many other, vehicles. It is activated as a precaution if a vehicle experiences a fault."
"Relevant authorities have confirmed that the technical measures have no adverse impact on the mpg figures, the CO2 emissions figures, engine output, maximum torque and noise of the affected vehicles. Nor does the implementation of the technical measures have a negative impact on the durability of the engine or the emission control system.”
You can read our findings from the Autocar post-Dieselgate test here.
Read the insight behind our investigation headline here; what does this mean for UK VW owners?
Read more:
Volkswagen denies its Dieselgate fix causes breakdowns
Bosch created Volkswagen Dieselgate cheat software, study alleges
Volkswagen pledges to rectify problems caused by Dieselgate software fix
Volkswagen dieselgate emissions scandal: 20,000 UK cars being fixed a week
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Again, just to add some balance...
I love my Polo GTI, it's ace.
Contempt
The sad thing is that people still contine to buy their cars. VAG are by far the largest supplier of cars in the UK so are making billions out of us, yet have treated their European customers in the most appalling way. Where are the huge fines that were levied in the US? More EU corruption, no doubt.
Naughty VW
The EU fuel economy test result might be the same but the real world fuel economy is likely to be worse overall.
VW has a cheek. They are updating cars without fitting uprated fuel injectors, an uprated Exhaust Gas Recirculation Valve or an uprated Diesel Particulate Filter. They must do this so that those components will be reliable/not break for a reasonable amount of time in service.
The VW emissions update puts extra wear and tear on the fuel injectors, the Exhaust Gas Recirculation Valve and the Diesel Particulate Filter.
VW is being completely unfair on its affected customers. VW is treating its customers will complete contempt.
I hope that BREXIT stops VW selling their polluting cars in the UK. We don't need their single market rubbish here!
max1e6 wrote:
But Volkswagen have had this attitude for years: Bringing such things as DSG and twin charger to market without proper development, and letting their customers put up with the consequences and costs of this rushed approach are just two other examples of this. The sad thing is that those same customers just keep on bending over and taking more of it, and Volkswagen know they will do this.