Big questions the Government needs to answer on VW

Dont blame you Dave, I would hesitate too , your bhp is identical to my very old Ford ST 170 and its quite nippy , by VW conforming to the law they are at the same time changing the power curve of your engine to a “non ideal ” curve to satisfy the EU.

I’ve just been contacted by a no win no fee company inviting me to join a group claim for compensation for the vehicle emission scandal affecting my VW Jetta. They say the fee is 30% of any compensation plus the cost of distributing the settlement. They expect a successful claim to be “only a few thousand” and that those who sign up would be excluded from accepting alternative forms of compensation from VW – e.g. discount on a new car.

Had exactly the same problem. On first return the car was undriveable, and was collected by the garage and returned with a bland apology and no explanation. Same problem now that Paul E has. Intermittent and complies with the law that says that no intermittent fault will occur when a garage employee is in the car. Garage (VW main dealer) will not debate further.

that does not sound good at all. If you haven’t had it sorted yet then i would definitely be seeking legal advice!!! hope you get/had it sorted.

Dont blame you “Anon ” . Going by the posts on Which and on other websites involving cars there are plenty of unhappy car owners who have had the –MOD -I will repeat MOD done . A “recall” is only a word for an ENGINEERING fault in a piece of equipment which has been designed improperly , but thats not the point as the cars have left the manufacturers with the CORRECT performance curve for that engine but due to EU legislation they are being forced legally to alter it not for a better performance but a Worse one. It doesn’t matter how many corporation lawyers try to wriggle out of it this is still a modification and should be challenged in the High Court. Modification = a change to the original build of a component or apparatus by mechanical/electrical/digital means.

Just like my Renault Espace2.2dci cracking car but never got better than 32mpg (they claimed it would do 44)

I got 38-40 on mixed driving and nearly 44 on trips to Devon. 2004 version.

Prior to the modification I was achieving around 60 on a long run, though I would be hard pressed to manage 50 round town. I have not had the opportunity to do a long run since the modification but I have certainly achieved over 50 mpg once the engine is up to normal temperature. It might be worth having the garage look at your car, Erik. I was told that any problems would be sorted out free of charge.

Generally, modern small family cars are achieving excellent fuel economy compared with just a few years ago. Fuel prices are an important part of the cost of living indices and have been rising again recently thus raising the inflation rate. Looking at fuel prices over the last ten years gives the impression of a large increase in cost, but should the index price not be moderated by the mileage gains so that the cost per mile is the measured unit rather than the price per litre?

I have been thinking in terms of cost per mile for many years, probably because of mileage allowance from my employer. I think most people are more interested in their own expenditure than cost of living indices.

No-one seems to be concerned about the effects that the excessive pollution caused by the affected cars has had on the population of this country. I would like to see VW making a generous contribution to our NHS. We really need to think about people other than ourselves.

Of course we are concerned, and of course we think about other people. Tinkering with vehicle emissions will help, but that only applies to new vehicles. We have a huge legacy of older vehicles that will emit far more pollutants than current VWs. If we really want to reduce pollution, instead of pillorying VW, we should be restricting the amount of polluting vehicles allowed into our towns and cities, sitting in jams and damaging all people around, including the drivers.

VW should be penalised where they have broken regulations – compensation for drivers who may have lost money, and the government who may have lost tax revenue. If they pollute more than regulations allow they should also be fined. I have not, as yet, seen official figures for “corrected” cars on which compensation should be based. Perhaps Which? could dig them out and publish them?

To my mind, the ‘regulation’ is that in a civilised society we require honesty from people, companies and other organisations including government. Cheating must be punished and if we condone it then there is an incentive to cheat again.

I don’t disagree about cutting down pollution in towns and cities but that is a separate issue and one we have agreed on in other discussions.

Pickard – First it has to be established that a law has been broken and I believe there is no certainty of that.

Presumably the 45 mpg is what the performance should have been from new if there had not been some naughty work on the engine which has now been rectified.

Alan , thanks for your post and providing -IMHO significant information not previously posted on Which,s website I understand what you are saying and would like to hear from anybody in the industry who can either collaborate this information or provide a rebuttal but I will need the rebuttal to be in engineering terms of why they think Alan,s post is not correct, just saying no is not good enough, I want a detailed response.

BBC “Watchdog” programme last week (12/07/17) had stories about people having problems with their vehicles after having VW’s “service action”. Many complaints were about vehicles going into “limp-home” mode which can be quite worrying. Best advice seems to be to ignore the service action altogether.

Unless you have a juddering movement when the brakes are applied you dont have “warped ” discs or a gripping/releasing feeling Ralfe . While a car engine can run on due to many faults depending on whether its diesel or petrol as your only occurred when it was “re-tuned ” then it points to a timing fault in the ignition/fuel sequence . Dont go back to him get an independent garage,s advice and make sure its a reputable one.

Ralfe – Turning off the key on a diesel allows an electrically-operated valve to cut off the fuel supply and running on will be due to the valve sticking. It’s important to have the problem sorted out before you cannot stop the engine unless you stall it. This would be coincidence rather than related to the emissions modifications.

My Golf 1.6 had a safety check when the emissions modifications were done and I was told that the rear shock absorbers were weeping but they could be replaced when the car was serviced a couple of months later. I had the MOT done by an independent garage and asked them to look at the shock absorbers. There was no sign of leakage by then and my garage said that that the VW dealer had probably simulated leakage with the help of a couple of squirts of WD40. The ‘run out’ on your brakes may exceed normal limits without a problem being obvious, but I would follow Duncan’s advice and have an independent garage check the brakes.