Report: Volkswagen Officially Recalls Dirty Diesels in Germany, Fixes Start January

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

Volkswagen will officially recall all of its illegally polluting diesel engines in Germany, German newspaper Die Welt reported Monday (via Reuters), the first step in a wave of recalls to fix 11 million cars worldwide.

Roughly 2.5 million cars in Germany will be recalled — 1.5 million Volkswagens, 500,000 Audi and 500,000 Skoda- and Seat-branded cars — with work beginning in January. Last week, t he German transportation authority approved Volkswagen’s fix for 1.6-liter cars, which included an “air calming” pipe ahead of the intake’s air sensor. The company’s 1.2- and 2-liter cars may only need software fixes.

Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board will review Volkswagen’s proposal submitted earlier this month for fixing 482,000 cars in the U.S. It’s unclear what those fixes may be. During congressional testimony in October, Volkswagen of America chief Michael Horn said it would be a combination of hardware and software fixes.

According to the report, Volkswagen needed to submit a comprehensive plan to fix its cars in Germany by Monday.

The proposed hardware fix for its 1.6-liter cars would take less than one hour for dealers to complete, Volkswagen said. Updating software on its 1.2- and 2-liter cars would take 30 minutes.

The recall in Germany will likely be the roadmap for Volkswagen to recall its cars in other European countries. Although the recall only affects Volkswagens in Germany, similar regulations in EU28 countries mean that the same or similar fixes would likely apply there.


Aaron Cole
Aaron Cole

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  • Wmba Wmba on Nov 30, 2015

    The German government has bent over backwards for VW. The new standards proposed by them for Euro NOx as a multiple of Euro 6 all the way out to 2020 are complete BS. They're apparently concerned that the German "brand" is not besmirched internationally, so are trying to back off what's already in place so VW can canter in for an easy win. What a sleasy wheeze. So far, not all the other EU governments are convinced, thank goodness. On the other hand, some German newspapers are calling this really nasty-looking flow straightener a load of rubbish as a fix for EA189 1.6 diesels, and I could not agree more. Far from being something new, much nicer designs date from the 1940s, when people had to think things through rather than rely on some CAD program spitting out crude junk design like this. But it's all a sideshow because this thing will do SFA anyway. It is the mere physical manifestation of a crock o'shite of a disinformation campaign cooked up by VW and a panicky government to placate what they see as the normal mouth agape techno-illiterates currently masquerading as citizens, Except they ain't that stupid. But nevertheless the German Federal Motor Transport Authority has "approved" this "fix". So it's in, and staff members will no doubt retire early on full pensions and other "considerations" for being so compliant in the official cover up. When VW actually has to do something real and substantial for EPA and CARB and announce it publicly, the squeals of protest from an already disbelieving German press that Germans aren't being treated equally will balloon. And who can blame them? VW has chosen to BS its German customers. No $500 gift cards for those poor sods, VW doesn't value them. It doesn't value its US customers either, but is scared sh*tless of fines from the EPA, so is trying to look sorta like a good guy offering up a little warmth for a mistake some damn traitors down in the engine lab dreamed up and inflicted not only on their customers, but to the integrity of VW itself. What a load of old hogswallop. It reeks. Ferdi Piech ran this company for years and he couldn't care less about his customers. All that's important now is to minimize the outlay and then getting back to business as usual. So using any old scheme or lie is fair game for the German business cartel. In other words much like business anywhere these days. Cynical? You bet I am.

    • See 2 previous
    • Greaseyknight Greaseyknight on Nov 30, 2015

      @NickS Agreed on the tune, if I owned one of these vehicles I would not allow the fix to be performed until some real world testing happens. I'm not going to be VW's out of warranty test mule.....who knows what that tune is doing to the engine.

  • Jthorner Jthorner on Dec 01, 2015

    I hope an independent groups tests the "fixed" vehicles with and without the flow straightener. If that gadget works, I'm going to have to dig out my Popular Mechanics magazines from the 1970s and buy one each of every magic fuel saving device advertised!

  • Jasper2 Jasper2 on Dec 01, 2015

    VW's solution is also a cure for baldness. Bless there little corporate hearts. WINTERKORN rules!!!!

    • Sgeffe Sgeffe on Dec 01, 2015

      How 'bout the common cold and cancer, too??!!

  • Voyager Voyager on Dec 01, 2015

    What keeps VW owners from dismantling that mesh canister the moment they arrive home from the dealership?

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