News headline that\'s just popped up on screens at work:
\"VW recalls 870,000 cars for possible damage of rubber boots of front axle\".
No more info yet - I\'ll keep you posted.
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The full story has just come through:
\"FRANKFURT (AFX) - Shares in Volkswagen AG extended their losses in midday
trade on news that the carmaker is offering owners of 870,000 cars of Passat and
Audi models a free check for possible damage of the rubber boots of the front
axle, dealers said.
The stock and fellow auto issues had already been out of sorts earlier in
the session as the euro continued to rebound against the US dollar.
At 11.59 am, VW shares were down 0.82 eur or 2.16 pct at 37.18, but off a
low of 37.00 hit immediately after news of the recall filtered into the market.
At the same time, the DAX 30 index was down 28.15 points or 0.68 pct at
4,105.95.
\"The news is not as bad as we first feared,\" said one dealer. \"The recall
should only affect older models.\"
The dealer said that the stock is strongly supported technically at the
37-eur level.
VW said the cars affected are VW Passat built from 1996-1999, the Audi A4
and A8 built from 1994-1999, and the Audi A6 built from 1997-1999.
It said a damage of the rubber boots of the front axle can lead to premature
wear and in isolated cases to the failure of the bearing arm, mainly on
high-mileage vehicles.
It said 870,000 vehicles worldwide are affected, including around 410,000 in
Germany.\"
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This seems strange to me. To recall cars over 5 years old to replace an item which regularly fails on older cars anyway. I\'ve had CV boots changed on different cars and a colleague has just had one done on a Saxo. I would have thought it almost a replacement item due to the rubber perishing over time.
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I\'ve got to agree with you Davey - seems slightly odd.
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I have a \'99 A6 and both CV boots have been replaced (this not cheap I\'d like to add). I assumed it was normal wear and tear, so it does seem strange to recall cars for that. I would almost think that there is something else going on.
I\'ll wait to see if I get a letter from my dealer, and see if I can get any of that money back if this was due to a known problem.
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I would almost think that there is something else going on.
An understandable supposition, but can we stick to known facts for the moment. The last thing we need is VW coming after HJ because of rumours starting on this forum.
Cheers,
No Dosh
Backroom Moderator
mailto:moderators@honestjohn.co.uk
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Or maybe this is related to the lower control arm ( ball joint )
which seems to wear out at mileages aproaching 100k, & I belive was the subject of a recall in other countries.
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I have just spoken to my local VW garage about this. They told me that they only know about it because of the number of people who have heard it on TV/radio and phoned them. They have heard nothing officially!
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If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen....recall.
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More than likely, however mine went at 56k on a 2001 plate, the relative lack of robustness of these components has been commented on before here and other sites.
Doesn't appear to add up - everyone one knows that if your rubber splits you're in the carp ;-)
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This news should be useful for me. As I've mentioned before, my own Passat has recently been diagnosed with faulty suspension. I've had a less than helpful response from VW Customer Care (should that last bit be in inverted commas?). I pointed out that the recall announced in Auto Bild in 2001 (as reported in the Car By Car Breakdown here) was not extended to the UK and asked what the reason for this was. The lady I spoke to tried to argue that this recall wouldn't affect my car as it was a UK model rather than an imported European model (!!??!). I asked her if there was a special VW factory which only built cars destined for the UK market using different parts than the cars destined for the German market. She conceded that one! Then she said she wasn't qualified to have this conversation with me (something I had already worked out) and said the matter would be investigated.
Of course, once her supervisor came back to me I was simply told that VW would not be helping me. My answer was that I did not accept this response and that I would be taking the matter further. I also informed her that until the issue was resolved to my satisfaction, I would be doing my best to discourage as many people as possible from buying VW cars. I also said that as a result of hearing about my experience, so far three people have now decided to buy Fords rather than Volkswagens (this is true, by the way - various friends/colleagues have between them bought 2 Fiestas and a Mondeo rather than 2 Polos and a Passat).
I'm glad I've had a busy week up to now, because I haven't posted my letter to the head of VW UK. I'll redraft it to include the news about the UK recall and post any response here, or else in my earlier post in Discussion if mods prefer.
andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmmm, doughnuts
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I've just spoken to my local VW dealer, to see if my recently acquired Passat would be affected.
Apparently, this recall actually happened about two years ago. There is no offical recall going on at the moment in relation to the above.
The service manager mentioned that he's had a couple of calls and has heard it on the radio, and has no idea why this out of date information is circulating.
So, there you go.
DB
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Hmm - I might hold fire for a few days to see what develops, or if any further information comes to light. It depends on whether the recall now applies to the UK or not - it didn't before. Perhaps Don Vito could tell us where the news came from - any web links?
(Please, Don Vito, helpa-me) ;-)
--
andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmmm, doughnuts
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I agree.
Don Vito, your helpa is mucha appreciated. I give-a my greatest respecta to your family.
Ciao.
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I got the news from a financial markets daya system that I use at work and the news items themselves are provided by AFX News (www.afxnews.com).
I'll have a dig around to see if I can find anything else - if I can't, I'll send Luca Brazzi round to AFX to make 'em an offer they can't refuse....
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Found these..
wardsauto.com/ar/transportation_rptupdate_volkswag.../
www.just-auto.com/news_detail.asp?art=44256
host.wallstreetcity.com/wsc2/Comtex_Business_Stori...0
(you'll have to Cut & Paste this entire line to your browser- the link won't work for some reason)
www.businessworld.ie/livenews.htm?a=905698;s=rolli...m
www.canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2004...2
www.pricecentre.com/livenews.html?a=48309;r=76
I'll leave it to everyone to decide whether they think this is a current recall or one from two years ago but the VAG share price certainly took a bit of a dive earlier this week (although this COULD be unrelated). Me, I'd prefer to believe the likes of Reuters and these news sites from around the world than a service manager that can't be bothered to take calls from concerned VW/Audi owners (isn't cynicism great!).
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Agree with your last comment completely, AFAIC this is the price you pay when you treat your customers the way VAG appears to treat their customers.
Too many folk on this site (and others) have had cause to criticise the way VAG customer service is run. They seem to forget that service doesn't just apply to the car - it's the customer as well.
Now if their PR department had earned it's money, they could have released the news as something like:
"Even though some of the affected cars are well outside their warranty, VAG is happy to check and replace affected parts FOC.
VAG would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused."
This would put them in a better light and might have caused less ripples in the stock market.
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I think you're spot on Malcolm.
I may have been a bit harsh on the service manager in question as he has obviously been put in this awkward position by VW/Audi UK. Perhaps he thought it was better to flanel his way out of it rather than admit that he knew nothing about it. What he should have done is put his hands up to knowing nothing, taking the concerned customer's details and promising to get back to them once he'd found out what was going on.
But then what do I know about how to treat customers - I work in the financial services industry (anyone wanna buy a second-hand endowment policy? No? A pension then? Come on people, help me out here!!).
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Any editing/deleting we should know about?
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Yes, but we may not be told .. ..
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But then what do I know about how to treat customers - I work in the financial services industry (anyone wanna buy a second-hand endowment policy? No? A pension then? Come on people, help me out here!!).
Well it may interest you to know that one of the mods (moi) runs his own Compliance Consultancy......
Be happy to send you a large bill in exchange for telling you to keep doing what you're doing as long as you rewrite your procedures in a more "robust" (favourite word in compliance right now) manner. I'll then send you a bill for drafting new procedures that say the same thing as your old ones, only with lots of this years buzz-phrases in them. For a further fee I'll actually send them to you.
;o)
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Has this been resolved yet?
My Nov 98 Passat was recalled in the Summer of 2001 to have this problem fixed. I was told it was a known weakness on the Passat. Potentially this is a very serious fault and I hope VW are going to do the right thing and carry out the rectification free of charge. I will be telephoning my local dealer today so I hope they know what's going on.
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I called our local VW dealer this morning (we have a '99 Passat). They confirmed that the recall applies to our car, and said that they had only had official notification of the recall "in the last few days".
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Did the dealer advise on what fault the recall would fix ?
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It does appear to have gone all quiet!
Would this recall affect the A4, which shares the front suspension setup with the Passat?
--
groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
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As far as my own situation goes, I haven't had any other correspondence with VW or my local dealer since the recall was announced. This has been due to my own lack of time & energy more than anything else! I hope to follow up within the next couple of weeks or so and will post any response from VW to this thread. I also would encourage anyone else in similar circumstances to do the same.
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andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmmm, doughnuts
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To late for me. Last week and before the recall
notice got to me the part in question failed sending
me flying down a single track road minus a front wheel.
I had no warning it was going to go, it just went.
If you;ve got one then I\'d advise getting it done NOW.
I was lucky it didn\'t fail on the motorway or on a busier
road or I\'d probably have been on my roof at 70mph.
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I have been tell Volkswagen for 3 years that the wheels fall off their cars, I have had a website at between number 2 and 7 on a Volkswagen Golf search in Google for 2 years. The problem with these cars is the shaft fails in Fatigue it is then retained by the bearing until sideload is great enough to seperate it and the wheel comes off,the natural reaction is to brake and the car spins out of control on the remaining wheel. Take a look at my site @ www.btinternet.com/~david.bailey19/home.page1.htm
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