DSG woes in The Age

[sVWatt]

“Yes, we have issues, we acknowledge there are issues,” White told Drive. “We want to get to every customer."

Volkswagen breaks silence, but still no recalls

[Hail22]

“Yes, we have issues, we acknowledge there are issues,” White told Drive. “We want to get to every customer."

Volkswagen breaks silence, but still no recalls

That sounds something like what Cheverolet, Ford and Chrysler said to the federal commission during the GFC xD

"We want to get to every customer" what it means from a PR/HR perspective "Its up to our consumers to contact us first" hence the public release its not to re-assure consumers its to say to consumers...we won't be calling you however we've allowed the option for you to contact us.

[Transporter]

It looks like the ball is rolling and the actions were taken, and IMO every civilised person would seat back and wait for the outcome. With regards to media involvement - these who just pour the oil into the fire, make sure you don't overcook it, you could get burned.

As for me from now on I wouldn't want to respond in this thread that's very one sided.

[mythik]

[Diesel_vert]

But, but ... from the new article

Mr Harding said customers should not be paying Volkswagen for parts when there were ''inherent problems with the vehicles''. He said these issues affected only ''a very low percentage'' of the 20,000-odd cars Volkswagen sold in Australia each year, and only two types of DSG transmissions - the DQ200 and DQ250 - seem to be affected. The customer makes a complaint but is sent away and told this is normal. That's where I don't agree with Volkswagen.''

I didn't say the DQ250 wasn't trouble-free (and it isn't), just that it's not subject to the same recall currently under way for the DQ200 in other countries.

Some practical advice: due to the amount of media scrutiny on VW at the moment, I'd suggest you contact head office to confirm if your car is covered by the 5 year / 150 000 km transmission warranty, and if so, go to your nearest dealer and insist that your car suffers from the same symptoms (false neutral, etc). Who knows, you may well end up with a free replacement mechatronics unit.

Thanks for the advice but no, I won't sell it because my philosophy with cars is to own them at least 10 years to amortize costs. If I can baby this one along for another 6 years, I'll consider the episode closed.

But I regret buying this car, and won't buy another VW (this from a long-time VW fan who has owned numerous VWs).

I emphasise with you and I'm sure none of us would want to be in your situation - but after all this, you're still willing to drive the vehicle for another six years?

I understand the financial argument, but sometimes, I think you have to cut your losses - a Volkswagen Golf TDI is not worth this much heartache.

What price on sanity and piece-of-mind?

From one extreme to the other and he is basically saying not to buy a second hand VW out of warranty.

I wonder if that comes as a revelation to some people.

I've always known (and so have many others who bother to do their research) that in a general sense, buying any second hand carries some risk - and especially so when it comes to any European car.

I was absolutely gobsmacked when someone in an article claimed that VW's have a great reputation amongst used-car buyers... lol, I presume he was talking about those who didn't do their research.

Don't get me wrong - I love my Euros, but I also love getting my hands dirty - so I'm certainly under no illusion what owning one might entail, and I certainly wouldn't personally recommend any second-hand European car to family and friends who have absolutely no technical interest in cars.

[brad]

I emphasise with you and I'm sure none of us would want to be in your situation - but after all this, you're still willing to drive the vehicle for another six years?

I understand the financial argument, but sometimes, I think you have to cut your losses - a Volkswagen Golf TDI is not worth this much heartache.

What price on sanity and piece-of-mind?

I couldn't agree more.

I don't like throwing money away & tend to squeeze the last drop out of anything I own (I'm that guy that balances the oil container upside down for 2 hours to get every drop out of it) but if a vehicle was causing me that much angst I'd cut my losses & move on & forget about it rather than put myself through the emotional starin (and it would grate on me everytime I opened the garage door).

It's akin to staying in a bad relationship rather than go through a property settlement.

[PassatB6]

The most annoying thing about this thread is that OZVWCrap has a Golf with no apparent problems and has no intention of selling it. So much for the 'death trap' comments. Oddly, many of the owners who apparently 'fear for their lives' still refuse to sell their Golf. Secondly, the woman was killed in a manual and very few have complained about problems with manuals. Also, a number of the complainants on the thread haven't had any problems but are worried they are "losing confidence".

[Transporter]

I couldn't agree more.

I don't like throwing money away & tend to squeeze the last drop out of anything I own (I'm that guy that balances the oil container upside down for 2 hours to get every drop out of it) but if a vehicle was causing me that much angst I'd cut my losses & move on & forget about it rather than put myself through the emotional starin (and it would grate on me everytime I opened the garage door).

It's akin to staying in a bad relationship rather than go through a property settlement.

I let it drip out overnight.

I agree, all that negativity and arguing badly affects your life. The heart attack is one of the biggest killer in the moder society.

[Diesel_vert]

The most annoying thing about this thread is that OZVWCrap has a Golf with no apparent problems and has no intention of selling it. So much for the 'death trap' comments. Oddly, many of the owners who apparently 'fear for their lives' still refuse to sell their Golf. Secondly, the woman was killed in a manual and very few have complained about problems with manuals. Also, a number of the complainants on the thread haven't had any problems but are worried they are "losing confidence".

He has claimed to have posted his experiences before on another forum:

This fault happened to me, in dramatic fashion, and when I posted about it here a few years ago (under another name .. lost that account's details so joined again), the thread was deleted.

The reason the thread was deleted was because I was blaming a dealer for the problem, not VW. The dealer directly threatened the owners of this forum with legal action and that caused the thread deletion. I blamed the dealer because I was told, by VW and another dealer, that the first dealer had caused the car to have this fault. I'm now starting to think that the entire "it's that dealer's fault" story was fed to me to keep me quiet, and the real story was that this has happened to many people and they knew it all along.

Well, it's coming out now!

You can read the history of what happened to me here:

Golf Dies For 3rd Time - TDIClub Forums

Now obviously, I can't personally vouch for the guy, but even if he were making the whole thing up (and I don't think he is), I'm sure there are many others who would be in a similar situation as he has described - and if they are, they'd probably share his sentiments as well.

[wai]

I have to say that what has intrigued me about this thread is that there are many complaining but very few have actually taken steps to do anything to alert regulators. I lodged a complaint with the ACCC and got a call back where they indicated no one else had reported anything. I wonder how many of those who wrote letters to the newspapers have actually formally complained to VW or the ACCC or the Department of Infrastructure and Transport?

Maybe they believe that social media will come to the rescue. I seriously doubt it as despite everything, VW are still not really doing or committing to anything. They are asking affected owners to contact them and they will then examine the vehicles and take any necessary action. Well, they would have to do that anyway, and supposedly have done this already when owners have reported issues with their cars when they had them serviced by their dealers. No doubt the response was "standard for that type of vehicle" and that is what they will receive now.

Even the articles and campaigns by various newspapers have not done much. I have not seen any pieces where the Department of Infrastructure and Transport has been interviewed on this.

What has happened is that (as has been pointed out) all VW vehicles have been tarred with the same brush. They are all considered dodgy. As a result, any resale value has gone out the window. I mean why would anyone buy a secondhand one? Why would any dealer trade one in as the scrap value would be eaten up by the transport costs involved. This is whether the vehicle being sold/traded has had any issues or not.

If there was to be a social media campaign, then it should have had a clear strategy. The strategy seems to have been "heap rubbish on all VWs and then when the market share dips, VW will do something about it". In all honesty, I don't really think that VW give two hoots about the resale value of their cars. They are in business to make and sell NEW cars. All this has done is see that VWs have the lowest possible resale value. If that was their intention (and it appears to be), then it is mission accomplished. Personally i would have preferred it if VW actually did something about the problems.

[pepperpolo]

The most annoying thing about this thread is that OZVWCrap has a Golf with no apparent problems and has no intention of selling it. So much for the 'death trap' comments. Oddly, many of the owners who apparently 'fear for their lives' still refuse to sell their Golf. Secondly, the woman was killed in a manual and very few have complained about problems with manuals. Also, a number of the complainants on the thread haven't had any problems but are worried they are "losing confidence".

Doesn't that just tell you how poorly VW have communicated with their customers. And therefore as a result people/customers would naturally lose confidence, including myself.

Maybe I misread the intention of your post but it sounds like you think the only people that can post on this issue is people that have these issues.

My polo has been relatively trouble free but I do worry about the DSG and clutch as a result of what I have read on this forum (before this Age stuff). But I also know that people with car issues are often drawn to car forums to self diagnose so appreciate problems are often disproportinally higher on the formum than if looking at total number of cars.

ps. my suspicion of fairfax is this has become a bit of a vendetta against VW because VW pulled their advertising budget from fairfax after the first article....

[BluChris]

Diesel_vert said: "I was absolutely gobsmacked when someone in an article claimed that VW's have a great reputation amongst used-car buyers... lol, I presume he was talking about those who didn't do their research." Amen, I was also very much aware they could be trouble from my own research - hence I went for Skoda because I liked the design and tech philosophy but the reliability reports were better.

Whether you like to admit it or not, OzVWCrap and Fairfax have probably done you some good. Forget the issues with the cars for a moment; VAG group service, attitude and costs suck - it's been said so many times by so many people on this forum well before this issue came up. VAG needed a massive kick in the proverbials.

I predict resale will be OK, just don't sell right now. The product is still desirable and people have short memories. Not to mention the huge numbers who aren't even aware this stoush is happening. Wait and see before you hit the panic button.

[wai]

ps. my suspicion of fairfax is this has become a bit of a vendetta against VW because VW pulled their advertising budget from fairfax after the first article....

This is the issue. It has been hijacked by people/organisations for their own purposes and it just so happens that it is VW this time.

One of my posts mentioned the stalling issue with Jeeps. Funny how this has not been seen as an issue of similar magnitude to the VW one where there is a loss of power. Yes Chrysler have acted, but not much in the media before the recall.

[Eaglehawk]

I wonder how many of those who wrote letters to the newspapers have actually formally complained to VW or the ACCC or the Department of Infrastructure and Transport?

I wrote to the vinvestigations@infrastructure.gov.au e-mail about my experience with the car. (As posted in the Polo 6R forum)

I personally think nothing will happen to my situation (just judging from what everyone else got from VW Aus HQ). But you're right, unless those who have posted in this thread with a specific problem with THEIR car (not a friend/family/neighbour/forum member post) and has the paperwork to prove a problem, they NEED to report their issues to the address so that they can really determine how widespread the problem is, and whether VW have been covering up a recall issue with a "service campaign". Stop typing in this thread, and send it to the e-mail address above. It will probably not change your situation personally, but someone other than VW need to know what the failure rate is.

[wai]

I predict resale will be OK, just don't sell right now. The product is still desirable and people have short memories.

Short memories are prolific. This is what politicians rely on