Volkswagen Golf SportWagen Reliability Problems

1. Volkswagen is recalling 6,300 vehicles after their supplier informed them the rear coil springs they provided weren’t ready for production.

   Um, whoops? If the coil spring breaks it will cause an unsettling noise (bad), a sagging backend (worse), and can even puncture a tire leading to a sudden blowout (holy smokes terrible). Owners of the 2018-2019 Atlas, 2015 Golf SportWagen, and 2019 Jetta should be on the lookout for a recall notice in the mail.

   

   keep reading article "VW Says Supplier Sent Coil Springs That Can Snap, Crackle, and Pop the Tires"

2. When Volkswagen agreed to a multi-district settlement for selling polluting engines marketed as clean diesel, it did so knowing it’d have to pay billions of dollars to customers that owned or leased an affected vehicle when the news about the scandal broke.

   Some owners that had sold their affected vehicles before the news came out tried to file for compensation in court, but didn't get very far. That may be about to change due to an interesting court decision in California.

   Former owners and lessees of Volkswagen "clean diesel" vehicles can proceed with their lawsuit even though the customers got rid of their diesel vehicles before anyone knew the emissions systems were illegal.

   Volkswagen, as you might image, is less than impressed with this decision.

   Volkswagen says the case is nothing more than trial attorneys trying to suck more money out of the automaker that has already paid more than $25 billion for its emissions sins.

   keep reading article "Judge's Decision May Open to the Door to New Diesel-Scandal Claims"

3. A new group of diesel owners are seeking “clean diesel” compensation from Volkswagen.

   The owners had not been covered by previous diesel settlements because they had sold or traded in the cars before dieselgate became public knowledge. From CarComplaints.com:

   Volkswagen told the judge those former owners and lessees are attempting to pry money out of the automaker's pockets even though the former owners didn't lose anything. When they sold or traded their diesel vehicles, or ended the lease agreements, the transactions occurred before the emissions scandal was known.

   The lawsuit boils down to economic harm. VW says the cars were sold at a value determined before anyone knew they spewed 40x the legal limit of NOx emissions, so dieselgate had no affect. The owners say they paid a premium for an eco-friendly car and should be compensated accordingly.

   Now a judge will decide if this case is a money grab.

   keep reading article "VW Says New Lawsuit Represents Group Unaffected by the “Clean Diesel” Scandal"

5. There's been a lot of talk about diesel buyouts and fixes lately.

   But one group that's been left out was what VW calls "Generation 3" diesel vehicles from the 2015 model year. But after 16 months of waiting, that's about to change:

   "Volkswagen finally received approval to fix certain 2-liter diesel vehicles to make their emissions systems legal, at least for about 67,000 of the 475,000 illegal 2-liter "clean diesel" vehicles."

   VW will remove the "defeat device" software and replace it with something a lot less cheat-y. Then sometime next year, VW will install new software in addition to a diesel particulate filter, diesel oxidation catalyst and a nitrogen oxide catalyst.

   keep reading article "Fix for 2015 2-Liter Diesels Approved"

6. Our neighbors to the north tend to be a patient bunch, but you have to imagine Canadian VW diesel owners were starting to wonder when their settlement offer would come.

   Well, good news. Canadian owners will receive between $5,100 and $8,000 in compensation along with a few options. Any eligible owner can choose to trade their vehicle and apply its fair market value at that time towards the purchase of a new or used Volkswagen or Audi vehicle.

   Spread out over 105,000 vehicles, that equals about $2.1 billion CAD (Canadian dollars). The settlement needs to be approved and finalized by two courts.

   keep reading article "Oh, Canada! A VW Diesel Settlement Update"

7. As part of a historic $15 billion settlement, Volkswagen will be offering substantial compensation to diesel owners emissions scandal.

   In addition to those payments, owners will also have the option to offload their cars as part of a buy back program.

   …

   keep reading article "TDI Cash Compensation and Buy Back Options"

8. The settlement details for VW diesel customers in the USA is here and you know what? It actually looks pretty good.

   The agreement involves 500,000 2-liter engines that VW called "clean diesels" but turned out to be NOx spewing polluters. The full details are available here, but here's some cliff notes:

   1. Volkswagen will offer to buy back the affected diesels using their pre-scandal NADA book value (September 2015)
   2. Owners can sell their cars back or keep them and wait for an EPA approved fix
   3. Whether you sell it or keep it, VW will compensate owners somewhere between $5000-$10000 for their trouble
   4. Lessees will have the option of terminating their lease without penalty

   So far there is no word on what the fix will be for these vehicles or how that'll affect MPG or performance. Owners of the following are eligible for compensation:

   475,000 2.0-liter diesel cars including the 2013-2015 Beetle, 2010-2015 Golf, 2009-2015 Jetta, and 2012-2015 Passat, along with the Audi A3 between 2010-2013 and 2015. All in the USA.

   keep reading article "VW Close to Agreement to Buy Back Diesels and Compensate Owners"

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