Here's What It Might Cost To Fix Each 2.0 TDI Volkswagen

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

In all reality, Volkswagen probably won’t pay $37,500 for each car that cheated its way through U.S. emissions standards, but the German automaker will probably pay thousands for each car to fit a device that would clean up their acts.

The presumed fix would come by retrofitting a Selective Catalytic Reduction (Adblue or urea) system although that wouldn’t be the only fix necessary. Researchers discovered that the Passat TDI that they tested, fitted with the SCR system, was 5 to 20 times over the NO limit — less than the 10 to 40 times by the lean NO filter cars, but still illegal.

The long list of items needed to fit models of the Volkswagen Golf, Jetta, Beetle and Audi A3 doesn’t include the engineering needed to retrofit the cars and the costs to crash test the models after the significant modifications. That’ll add hundreds of millions to the bottom line.

Our own Bozi Tatarevic provided his preliminary list of additions (retail prices) that would be needed for each car based on the systems included in the Passat TDI — which still didn’t pass:

• Cooler ($361)


• Aftertreatment Fuel Tank ($534)


• Dosing Valve ($240)


• DPFE ($105)


• Temperature Sensor ($171)


• EGR ($401)


• Catalyst ($688)


Total = $2,500

Bozi points out that the urea tank most likely couldn’t be installed into the rear trunks due to the corrosive nature of the fluid. The secondary tanks would likely need to be installed under the car, next to a smaller, also-replaced, fuel tank. That would be an additional cost to Volkswagen (hundreds of dollars for each car) and further necessitate all new safety ratings.

The parts costs don’t take into account the hours of labor, which for a Jetta is 6-7 hours to change the diesel particulate filter alone. Such a substantial retrofit on their cars could take dozens of hours, incurring thousands in labor costs that Volkswagen would have to reimburse its dealers for. Labor rates, typically ~$100/hour, would likely be less for Volkswagen and the automaker would only reimburse dealers for the completion time detailed in the recall order.

Any sort of recall repair work and would need to be weighed against the cost for VW to buy back its own cars, which for a 2009 Jetta TDI, starts at about $7,000.

Aaron Cole
Aaron Cole

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  • Art Vandelay Art Vandelay on Sep 27, 2015

    Oh boy...so VW is going to design a bunch of complex emission controls after the fact and retrofit a whole bunch of hastily designed parts presumably in dealer service departments of, um varying degrees of competence, every penny of which eat away profit. What could go wrong with this? I'd buy a quad-4 Grand Am before I'd touch one of these things after whatever fix is applied.

  • Corky Boyd Corky Boyd on Sep 28, 2015

    I fail to see how altering the emission control system would benefit fuel mileage to any great degree. Nor do I think that is what VW intended. I think they were after more power. The TDI is a puny 122 cubic inches. Only by giving a healthy turbo boost will it give performance equal to a gasoline powered car. But heavy boosting raises the combustion chamber temperature and NOx emissions. VW found a way around it. And that was to over boost but hide it during the EPA tests. They did it by sensing when it was on the test stand. The first of the tests is the urban cycle which involves a cold start and a wait of 20 seconds before accelerating. Matching that data point and two or three others in the structured test, signaled the ECU to reduce the boost levels enough to pass the NOx test. If this is the case, the fix is only a software revision. But it will also result in an underpowered vehicle.

  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
  • ToolGuy Ford is good at drifting all right... 😉
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