8.5 Million Volkswagen Diesels Being Recalled In Europe
Originally published on EV Obsession.
Around 8.5 million diesel vehicles sold by Volkswagen over the past few years in Europe will be recalled, following the testing scandal of a few weeks ago, according to reports.
Considering that the German company actually sold around 11 million diesel vehicles in Europe that are known to have featured the software that allows for fraudulent testing cycle performance, that interestingly means there will still be several million such vehicles not recalled (yet anyways).
The recall will be undertaken via a timeline recently approved by the country’s Federal Motor Transport Authority — it’s currently planned that “fixes” will begin in January 2016.
Green Car Reports provides more:
Volkswagen says it will recall a total of 8.5 million TDI models in Europe that are equipped with the EA189 four-cylinder engine, including a confirmed 2.4 million just in Germany. Other European countries will clarify in turn exactly which EA189-equipped models within their jurisdictions are affected.
Volkswagen will contact European customers with affected cars directly, and is setting up websites so customers can check to see if their cars are being recalled.
The company is not discussing exactly how it will address the emissions issue, either in Europe or in North America, but says fixes can involve “software as well as hardware measures,” depending on the model. This week’s agreement to mount a massive recall across Europe does not include approximately 482,000 similar vehicles in the United States that have been identified as having the same emissions “defeat device” software.
The models being recalled include: all 2009–2015 model years of the diesel Volkswagen Golf, Beetle, Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, and the Audi A3 TDI.
The company is apparently currently considering the option of simply buying back affected vehicles in the US.
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Potential buyback in the US, at the new prices or current used ones and what would be the cost to VW ( besides the really poor outlook for diesels)?
What I’d like to see is VW offer to swap the (used, obviously) diesel for a new, 2015 or 2016 model gasoline car, or give a very large discount on a new comparable size electric if one exists. VW is in severe danger of losing major market share to other manufacturers, and exchanging the dirty diesel for a car that can meet emission standards may keep some customers from changing to a different brand and never coming back.
European commission standard are not as strict as in the US. As a result many of the cars in Europe will only need a software update. In the US it looks like VW will need to install a Adblue system plus a software change to meet US NOx specs. In many cases these changes will need government approvals before being implemented.
Recently the Opel Zafira was found to produces more NOx when the rear wheels are turning instead of stationary in lab emission tests. http://www.greencarcongress.com/2015/10/20151023-duh.html
Any found so far should get max fine and criminal charges. Then announce you have until Dec 31 to come forward on all cheats you have done. And starting Jan 1, give $10 million dollar (or 20% of fine whichever smaller) to a university that finds a new cheat. If you announce you cheats before Jan 1, you will not get criminal charges.
I bet they wish they could do OTA updates now!