Volkswagen UK boss Paul Willis has admitted to the government's Transport Committee it has received more than 28,000 complaints of an "apparent issue" with its 'dieselgate' software fix to date.
The number of complaints has risen by 70% since 2017, when the company last reported findings to the Committee's chair, Lilian Greenwood MP. Over 290,000 UK cars still require a software fix, not including those whose owners have turned down the work being carried out.
The Transport Committee claims it has had "regular reports from owners" claiming that the recall work has impaired their car's performance and running refinement.
How Volkswagen plans to clean up after Dieselgate
"It is important to bear in mind that the technical measures have been implemented in nearly 7.5 million vehicles across Europe and as noted above, in over 870,000 vehicles in the UK", Willis claims.
"The vast majority of customers have been satisfied and have reported no problems with the technical measures whatsoever." The firm as dismissed the vast majority of UK complaints with no action taken.
Despite this claim, an Autocar reader has received texts from his local Audi dealer (below) offering a free diagnostic service to owners who have seen their emissions warning light illuminate.
Most of the affected cars use the VW Group's 'EA189' 1.6 and 2.0-litre diesel engine, manufactured between 2007 and 2015. Around 55,000 V6 and V8 diesels are also part of the recall, with some software updates yet to be approved by the German Motor Transport Authority (KBA).
Back in 2017, Greenwood had requested an update on progress with fixing cars implicated in the emissions cheating scandal, prompting Willis to clarify Volkswagen’s recent actions regarding the issue.
Willis maintained Volkswagen's stance that no compensation will be offered to European customers, stating that “the issue is materially different to in the US compared to the situation in Europe”.
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Not to worry eh
Owners are at liberty to either get their cars fixed or not if they don't want to, I shall remember that the next time my cars fails its MOT for something like too much white showing on an orange indicator bulb. The thing with 97% of VW drivers is that they don't know or care anything about cars, they only know that VW has some sort of kudos that is totally lost on me. Anyone watching the amount of "amazing new stuff" VAG were "inventing" prior to dieselgate would have been suspicious regarding the engineering depth of their products.
As I said
Never sure why people took the risk, and, if you did want it done at least ask for a free service. Still a long way behind what the Americans got £1,000+ and free trade-in.
so what would you buy??
if you want a car that will last 150,000 miles garunteed, carries all your gear, has good safety ratings and is highly practical, nice to drive and a decent aftersales service what would you buy?
the answer is of course a volkswagen...
forget the dieselgate, that is old news. try out a new one and you will be amazed that it still holds the great german reliability that it always had.
as for their petrol models, never heard a bad word said about their 2.0 litre EA888 engines. after all, was it not diesle-gate, no petrol in that is there? why not forget your grudge against vw and buy quality, seen somewhere in this thread a story about huyundai engines not being so great, shows that vw is still the top.
gwmartin.10 wrote:
How much are VW paying you?
German relability and VW quality are a myth, and always have been, and even more now than ever, the cost cutting and further reductions in quality, with increased prices is evident accross the whole VW stable of brands, and if they are so wonderful, why have Porsche decided to stop selling diesels?
A myth it may be to you.
A myth it may be to you. heres the facts: i'm running a 64 reg diesel at 182,000 miles and its still going strong, my old one is still running with over 285,000 miles.
Both were fixed in the middle of the dieslgate scandal and they both continue to provide more.
it sounds to me that youve never been a salesman or work out on the road, if you want a good car that provides day-to-day running and only has to go in for its MOT then i would deffinitely buy a new vw diesel car.
porsche have just lost a whole host of customers as i knew quite a few salesman that have transferred to vw groups diesel engines for their new cars and not got a bad word to say about them. they reckon they are investing in electric cars but what good is an electric car for a salesman?
you say that there are reductions in quality but its clear you haven't taken a trip in their new toureg. travel in that and you wonder why anyone would buy a rolls royce!
Citytiger wrote:
Really??? Why have I had five VW's over the years then and not had ONE reliability issue?? Not one. If I added the mileage up it's over 200k across them all. I'll also bet I am not on my own. Porsche have stopped selling diesels purely down to being worried about their perception in the public eye, not because the engines are bad. I will tell you now, diesel Macans will hold their value. Not everyone wants a thirstier petrol to drive around at that price point. I am sick of people brandishing VW with the same story for every model they have sold. There ARE customers out there who have never had an issue with them. So stop hammering them.
gwmartin.10 wrote:
LMAO!!!!!!!!!
Your signature really lifts your satire to the next level. Brilliant!