VW Emissions fix for VW, Audi, SEAT & Skoda cars starts January 2016

Volkswagen Emissions fix for VW, Audi, SEAT & Skoda starts January 2016

The ‘fix’ for VW, Audi, SEAT and Skoda cars with the EA 189 TDI engine containing defeat device software will start in January 2016, and take a year to complete.

Today – 7 October 2015 – is the deadline for Volkswagen to submit a ‘fix’ for its VW, Audi, SEAT and Skoda cars with defeat device software in the EA 189 engine to German authorities for approval, but ahead of that the new VW boss, Matthias Mueller, has revealed that affected cars will start to be recalled in January 2016 and VW expect to have all 11 million cars ‘fixed’ by the end of 2016. They hope.

What isn’t clear is whether there will be a single fix for the cars, or a variation depending on models and makes, and whether any of the cars can simply have a software update or whether they’re going to need a hardware change. The latter seems the most likely.

But owners of VW (and Audi, SEAT and Skoda) cars affected really don’t need to worry too much; their cars will be taken in and modified as required, there will be no cost to them and their cars will still be good cars.

But what will inevitably happen is that owners will be compensated for the deceit that enticed them to buy cars that weren’t legally compliant by VW, a sum that could add up to many thousands of pounds for each of the 11 million cars affected, a cost that VW will have to bear in addition to the cost of the ‘fix’ and the inevitable fines governments around the world will impose.

All of which makes the €6.5 billion VW has set aside to deal with the mess look like a drop in the ocean.