Time is Money: A look in to why Volkswagen has yet to recall all affected vehicles

Yet again, Volkswagen have come under fire in the public limelight off the back of the ongoing emissions scandal.

Since the scandal first arose in September 2015, there has been non-stop bad publicity, which is about to get worse again as figures that were released from VW have shown that only one in ten vehicles have been fixed within the year.

Volkswagen have had some serious issues trying to sort the recall out, and these problems keep coming back to haunt them.

MPs like Louise Ellman, Chair of the Transport Select Committee, has described the German manufacturing company’s actions as “simply unacceptable” given that Paul Willis, VW UK’s managing director, made an undertaking that all 1.2 million vehicles in the U.K. would be recalled in a year!

According to the Telegraph, only 110,000 of the affected vehicles have been fixed so far; a meager amount. (www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/18/vw-under-fire-as-only-1-in-10-cars-affected-by-emissions-scandal/). So, does the lack of remedial action taken by VW shows its lax attitude, or could they have an ulterior motive for doing so?

The Toxic Truth?

Only a handful of vehicle owners have had, or are near, the recall point; which is astonishing, especially since the start date for recalls was supposed to be January 2016. VW suggest that after the recall there will not be an adverse effect on the vehicles, with several assertions made like there will be no difference in performance or economy.

But this is very difficult to believe, and may be far from the truth…

Scientific research suggests that the vehicle performance and functions like MPG will be negatively impacted. More worryingly than the low recall rates is the fact that VW have not detailed any further information on how they are repairing the vehicles, or presenting data from their own post-recall results. How can we trust that the repairs are going to not result in a worse performing vehicle and higher fuel costs?

At the moment, we can’t be certain at all.

VW have explained the difficulties and complexities in fixing the vehicles for various models and have reportedly tried to contact 300,000 UK customers, yet just 110,000 vehicles apparently have been fixed.

As you may already be aware, the UK government is not proactively intervening, and UK customers are being denied compensation. This combination has not helped people who are seeking genuine redress as a victim of the scandal. As we have seen in the United States, pressure from government can help to move forward the process of repairing the vehicles and allowing for suitable compensation packages to be negotiated.

The low recall rate could well be a time-biding exercise for VW because even they know too little about how the recall will affect vehicles. There doesn’t seem to be any other logical suggestion as to why they are lax about recalling and fixing vehicles in a timely fashion.

Cars are complex, and even small repairs and alterations to affected vehicles may cause huge problems in the future. Therefore, a suggestion for the low – and slow – recall rate could be VW’s tactic in researching the extent of the problems that may arise after the alterations are made. This may be a more economically viable option for VW, as further technical problems that may arise after a repair may bring further legal action against them. If VW takes their time in researching the effects that may come from repairing the vehicles and removing the “defeat device”, this may save them a lot of time and money.

We are yet to see the full effects of a 100% recall.