Germany Orders Volkswagen to Fix Dirty Diesels Faster

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

German transportation authority KBA on Thursday ordered the mandatory recall of 2.4 million Volkswagen cars with illegally polluting diesel engines, in part, because the German automaker’s proposed timetable wasn’t fast enough, Automotive News reported.

The forced recall will mean Volkswagen would likely spend more to fix its cars faster and German officials have told the automaker to submit a proposed fix by the end of November. Volkswagen initially planned for a voluntary recall to begin next year.

Authorities in Switzerland and Austria followed Germany and announced the forced recall would apply to those cars too, Bloomberg reported.

Last week, Volkswagen of America chief Michael Horn testified that a recall in the U.S. could take longer than one year to complete. Newer, Generation 3 diesel models would only need a software fix, which could be completed as early as next year.

Older, Generation 2 models may need more significant fixes, Horn said. That fix, which could involve replacing the car’s urea injectors, could come by the middle of next year.

Generation 1 models of the cars fitted with an EA 189 engine — the overwhelming majority of the 482,000 cars in the U.S. — would get more significant fixes and those cars could take years to rectify, Horn said.

Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notified Volkswagen that its 2-liter diesel engines violated the Clean Air Act in September. It’s unclear if the EPA will follow the KBA in forcing Volkswagen to fix its cars faster.

Analysts say the mandatory recall by German authorities is to better control the fixes and force the automaker’s hand in completing the repairs faster.

“It’s an unusual measure to be ordering a mandatory recall,” Arndt Ellinghorst, a London-based analyst with Evercore ISI, told Bloomberg. “It shows to me that the KBA is losing patience with VW’s slow response on what to do to fix the engines so far. Customers have been left unsettled.”

Aaron Cole
Aaron Cole

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  • Speedlaw Speedlaw on Oct 15, 2015

    So far, I've received an apology letter from VW USA's president, One post card from an attorney in the South looking for Class Action clients, and A letter from a local dealership made to look like a VW USA mailing advising me that I should come by to take advantage of the $2,000 owner loyalty rebate. How about you send me a check for the $1200 I spent fixing a broken DPF at 83k ? I'm still wondering what they will do, that they couldn't do in the last five years...it isn't like they didn't try. They tried, and failed.

    • Marcheld Marcheld on Oct 19, 2015

      Hey speedlaw: You had a clogged DPF at 83k and paid $1200 to repair? I heard the repair bill was more like $4000. Did you only drive your VW locally and never got on the highway much to "blow-out" the DPF? I hope I make it to the time they start doing recalls so I can have them give me a new DPF as a part of the service.

  • Wmba Wmba on Oct 15, 2015

    The slow response by VW to all the governments' outrage is because zero time is being devoted to a fix. Nobody is in charge and the exits to the lifeboats are clogged with people trampling over each other to try to get out. Who in their right mind would want to spend their professional careers sorting out this mess? It's panic time. The average executive is far more concerned with their own personal well-being than having the least concern about the shoddy product that was falsely promoted and sold to customers. It's hard to hold meaningful meetings on strategy and what to do, when you're not sure who is actually able to attend, and who is going to approve anything. Utter chaos.

  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
  • Carson D The UAW has succeeded in organizing a US VW plant before. There's a reason they don't teach history in the schools any longer. People wouldn't make the same mistakes.
  • B-BodyBuick84 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport of course, a 7 seater, 2.4 turbo-diesel I4 BOF SUV with Super-Select 4WD, centre and rear locking diffs standard of course.
  • Corey Lewis Think how dated this 80s design was by 1995!
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