VW Recall 500,000 cars including my new one

masscrazy

I recently purchased a Audi A3 from Cargiant on finance. Three days ago I saw news of the recall URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34311819"]1[/URL],[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34298259"]2[/URL of Audi A3's between 2009-2015. The reason for the recall, VW used a device that disguises pollution levels. Hence the £20 a year for the Audi for a 2lt TDi!

I bought the car 11 days ago, any advice on what steps to take?

Should I get a refund, if thats even possible considering two parties are invloved, finanace company and car giant. Neither I'm sure will budge and why would they. Or do I keep the car, best case expect to pay high road tax now and in worst case lose the car due to it being unsafe/having high pollution levels?

EDIT - Yes this news is for US, but I'm quite sure it will affect all cars even here in the UK.

EDIT 2 - 11 million worldwide! Libor scale scandal!

EDIT 3 @ 22/09-2.30pm - VW did not provide a breakdown of the number of vehicles which may be affected in each country but its statement followed suggestions that UK diesel owners could see their vehicles recalled.

JReacher1

I thought this was a US recall only? Although I could be mistaken.

bris

JReacher1 wrote: »

I thought this was a US recall only? Although I could be mistaken.

It is..................

masscrazy

Yes except its highly likely this will apply to cars in the UK. Its been the case with other recalls by other manufacturers.

JReacher1

Until there is a UK recall you don't have a leg to stand on really.

WestonDave

Its going to be pretty hard to show that either Cargiant or the finance company knew that VW had fitted this device (since it was obviously secret) so it would be difficult for them to be ultimately liable for it. At present you haven't lost anything so don't really have a claim for anything although some people will be offended to find they are driving a much more polluting car than they thought. For the time being I'd just keep an eye on things and see if it is a problem in the UK - the device may not even have been fitted here if it was specifically to get around US pollution laws.

neilmcl

masscrazy wrote: »

EDIT - Yes this news is for US, but I'm quite sure it will affect all cars even here in the UK.

I'm quite sure it wont.

ThumbRemote

WestonDave wrote: »

Its going to be pretty hard to show that either Cargiant or the finance company knew that VW had fitted this device (since it was obviously secret) so it would be difficult for them to be ultimately liable for it. At present you haven't lost anything so don't really have a claim for anything although some people will be offended to find they are driving a much more polluting car than they thought. For the time being I'd just keep an eye on things and see if it is a problem in the UK - the device may not even have been fitted here if it was specifically to get around US pollution laws.

As a general rule that's not the case - the retailer is liable for what they sell, even if the manufacturer did things in secret. The consumer makes their own claim against the retailer; the retailer in turn would claim off the manufacturer.

I don't know the specifics of this case, just mentioning the general principle.

Keep_pedalling

US and European emission standards are very different and are subject to different testing regimes, so cars for the US market will be mapped quite differently to those sold here. At the moment there is no suggestion that anything similar has been going on with European models.

masscrazy

You say Europe might be different. Here is a reply on the Guardian news story.

"Have they done the same in Europe?"
In short yes. They abuse loopholes in the current drive cycle (NEDC) that will be replaced this year.
"For the emission standards to deliver real emission reductions it is crucial to use a test cycle that reflects real-world driving style. However the fixed speeds, gear shift points and accelerations of the NEDC offer possibilities for manufacturers to engage in what was called 'cycle beating' to optimise engine emission performance to the corresponding operating points of the test cycle, while emissions from typical driving conditions would be much higher than expected, undermining the standards and public health. In one particular instance, research from two German technology institutes found that for diesel cars no 'real' NOx reductions have been achieved after 13 years of stricter standards."
http://www.theicct.org/sites/default/files/publications/ICCT_EU_fuelconsumption2_workingpaper_2012.pdf
(from the same organisation that exposed the Volkswagen fraud)
Permalink

Just putting it out there..

wealdroam

masscrazy wrote: »

You say Europe might be different. Here is a reply on the Guardian news story.



Just putting it out there..

All that says is that all car manufacturers use the legislation that is in place to show their cars in a good light. That is just what I would expect any manufacturer to do.

The situation in America is somewhat different, isn't it?