Europe has seen the bulk of Volkswagen's efforts aimed at removing the emissions-cheating software installed in millions of diesel vehicles; it's the largest single market for TDI vehicles. The automaker received regulatory approval to implement a software and hardware fix in European markets very early on and has been distributing the fix to hundreds of thousands of vehicles since the spring of 2016.
But a new report from an owners group claims the diesel fix has led to decreased vehicle performance in some cars. Autocar reports a group of over 1,000 owners in the U.K. has published a lengthy document detailing diesel fix issues, casting doubt on VW's claims that fuel consumption figures and engine performance levels will be unaffected by the application of a software patch.
The report alleges the fix has led to increased fuel consumption, turbo failures, excessive engine noise, excess fumes, EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) system problems, diesel particulate filter failure, reduced performance and even entry into Limp Mode.
"When affected customers started receiving the letters in regard to EA189 engines, the insistence of this statement caused suspicion," the report states in part. "It is now apparent that this statement is not true in many cases. Customers are regularly reporting the exact changes to their vehicles behavior that VAG insisted would not happen. Worse still, many vehicles break down immediately or shortly after implementation of VAG’s ‘measures.’"
The report also claims VW's official response in the U.K. has been the assertion that fewer than 1 percent of the vehicles that have received the fix had reported problems following its installation and that some "problems" were simply a change in engine noise. According to the VW owners' group report, VW treated the issue of engine noise change as "subjective" and has not offered further technical solutions to address the issue.
"VAG have continually refused to adequately respond directly to the issues and concerns that have been raised to them by individuals," the report claims. "They have been asked on many occasions to provide details of the update, its type of approval and details of the exact testing carried out. In particular, they have failed to provide any information demonstrating that the performance, fuel consumption, reliability and durability of vehicles will not be degraded in real world driving conditions as experienced by the customer. To this date, none of this vital information has been supplied to consumers. VAG, without adequate explanation, have classified this information as 'commercially sensitive.'"
Allegations of problems outside the U.K. have been equally sporadic, with VW indicating that it has not encountered a trend when it comes to mechanical issues following the rollout of the technical fix. The automaker reiterated it has tested the fix on all models and has not encountered widespread technical glitches that it could link to the application of the diesel software patch to the models that have received it thus far.
It remains to be seen if the issues experienced by this group of owners are indicative of a wider problem. Even though this particular owners' group numbers over 1,000 people, with the report quoting dozens of individual cases, it still amounts to a relatively small percentage of Volkswagens repaired. A wider trend of engine problems will have to surface to signal a mass failure of the recall campaign.
VW dealerships have started applying a software fix to U.S. diesel models recently; the hardware portion of the fix is scheduled to be produced and distributed later in 2017.
Jay Ramey grew up around very strange European cars, and instead of seeking out something reliable and comfortable for his own personal use he has been drawn to the more adventurous side of the dependability spectrum. Despite being followed around by French cars for the past decade, he has somehow been able to avoid Citroën ownership, judging them too commonplace, and is currently looking at cars from the former Czechoslovakia. Jay has been with Autoweek since 2013.
