Germany orders VW to recall ALL defeat device cars in Europe

The German government has ordered Volkswagen to recall all the models of VW, Audi, SEAT and Skoda with the defeat device in Europe – around 8.5 million cars.

The German government, unlike the UK government, has ordered VW to recall all the VW, SEAT, Audi and Skoda cars in Germany fitted with the defeat device software to scam emissions test, but now it’s gone a step further by demanding VW recall all the affected cars in Europe – some 8.5 million.

The KBA, Germany’s federal motor transport authority, refused to allow VW to be allowed to voluntarily recall the affected cars so it could impose strict controls on the remedial work done – and the timeframe – to implement the fix, a fix that will require hardware changes to around a third of the cars affected.

The recalls will begin in January, but it’s thought it will be Q3 2016 – at the earliest – before VW is in a position to provide the hardware fix needed for a substantial percentage of the cars affected.

Whether Germany’s move will see the UK following suit and making the recall of VW cars in the UK mandatory remains to be seen (the KBA can’t force its recall on other EU countries), but more importantly we wonder what governments are going to do, if anything, about making sure owners have the fix done.

Yesterday we asked the Department for Transport if they’d make the promise of no extra tax for dieselgate cars conditional on the fix, but they said it wasn’t necessary.

But if they don’t, what incentive do owners of the affected VW, Audi, SEAT and Skoda cars have to get a fix that could mean poorer economy and performance?