Watch: BBC Watchdog investigates VW’s dieselgate fix

Owners report loss of power and a mum's car was hit by lorry when it went into limp but VW say there's no problem

Watch: BBC Watchdog investigates VW’s dieselgate fix
The defeat devices, installed to dupe emissions tests, affected 1.2 million diesel cars in the UK.

The BBC’s consumer investigation programme, Watchdog is investigating complaints by owners who claim their cars have been going into limp mode after they received the official dieselgate fix to correct so-called defeat device software. 

The reported, which aired last week, revealed that 5,052 Volkswagen owners from a sample of 9,500 had reported reduced fuel efficiency or engine performance.

14 per cent of drivers said their car had gone into limp mode.

The programme spoke to one such owner, a mother who was driving on a dual carriageway with her son when the car went into limp mode and whilst she was manoeuvring the car off the road, a lorry crashed into them.

In a statement, Volkswagen Group said: “In the UK, the Volkswagen Group has implemented the technical measures in more than 720,000 vehicles and in over five million vehicles across Europe.

“To be clear, there is no systemic problem.

“The overwhelming majority of our customers have been fully satisfied.

“Implementation of the technical measures does not cause limp home mode to engage nor does it increase the incidence of limp home mode occurring.

“Relevant authorities have confirmed that the technical measures have no adverse impact on the MPG figures, the CO2 emissions figures, engine output, maximum torque and noise of the affected vehicles.

“Nor does the implementation of the technical measures have a negative impact on the durability of the engine or the emission control system.”

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8 Comments

  1. Well they would say that, wouldn’t they!

    Reply
  2. My daughter had her seat dune and it was playing up so she took it back and was told it OK. My wife has a Audi A1 and I am not having a dune.

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  3. If the fix has no side effects to fuel consumption or the emissions why was it there in the first place. What do they actually do for this fix and how can an owner tell it has been done. Is the reason some owners have not seen any side effects is because it has not been done. My wife has one of the affected cars and the dealer will not tell her what they have done

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  4. When are the government going to realise we are testing for the wrong gases

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  5. My a6 has been done and the fuel consumption is shocking my 2006 transit 2.4 is better on fuel and pulling away is like watching paint dry just sold my old a6 which was 140bhp and went like stink to get a 170bhp which is like pulling away with a 1 ltr and then you have all the regens it is doing

    Reply
  6. As a VW specialist engine re-mapper I can assure you that VW/Audi are telling fibs. I have re-mapped several of their half-baked efforts and confirm that some of them are actually undriveable. Then there are the cars that go into the dealers to be re-done, have the paperwork filled in and nothing actually done to the car. Why? Because the dealers know that the software fix is useless.
    Go and visit your local chip-tuning/ re-mapping people for a PROPER fix!!

    Reply
  7. really vw? so your software fix hasnt implemented use of the egr valve so in excess of its capabilities that they are failing big time? fact! ….we now are struggling to get the genuine replacements as they are on back order!some dealers are doing an egr change withy the free update too,fact! some owners are turning to pro tuners/mappers to turn back the upgrade as its causing so many issues.

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  8. As Durham Remaps the North East VAG group tuning specialists we have seen more than 15-20 cars per month from VW ,Seat and Skoda which once updated start to display symptoms of poor running , Egr faults , blocked Dpf etc only occurring since the dealer updates have been carried out . Analysing the updated software is is apparent that VAG have actually modified the egr hysterias, injection duration with modified parameters in such a way that it adversely affects mpg , has detrimental effects on performance and other serious shortcomings .We have rectified and enhanced over 100 cars with these issues now running perfect again , if your car hasn’t had the recall , don’t have it done , if it has and suffers these problems have it professionally mapped to restore and enhance its performance and economy ..

    Reply

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