Volkswagen Rolls Out 'Goodwill' Program for Some Diesel Owners - Consumer Reports
Only for 2.0s, not 3.0s.
Quote:
But VW owners shouldn’t expect to see $1,000 worth of credit arrive in their mailboxes automatically.
Rather than simply sending activated cards to registered owners, Volkswagen is calling for owners to submit information online, wait four weeks, then visit a dealership and present a driver’s license, vehicle registration, and title or lease agreement. Owners must claim this award by April 30, 2016. Both cards expire in one year.
|
Quote:
|
The $500 dealership credit card could serve as another gambit to increase service and parts business at dealerships from customers who normally take their cars to independent shops.
|
TTAC Registers for VW's "2.0L TDI Customer Goodwill Package"
The last comment claimed that everything was working, so I subscribed to ask what the program rules and cardholder agreement said.
It sounds like they are giving out a $500 prepaid Visa and a Volkswagen gift card that only last a year, which would approximately compensate you for going there, instead of an independent shop, but I imagine that some will end up purchasing stacks of shirts or something in a year.
Anyone who accepts will be unable to sue. And this will undoubtedly cost owners more than $500-1,000. I went back to 2012 in order to find more user-submitted MPG estimates on fueleconomy.gov. I found sixty Golfs and Jettas; the average EPA is 33.85, but they report 40.5, 19.65% more. So, will they now perform closer to EPA rating, using 20% more fuel?
According to EIA.gov, the average price for diesel today is $2.235 a gallon. 15,000 miles at that price at 40.5 MPG would cost $827.78, but $1,030.22 at 33.85, or another $202.44 yearly; $1,012.19 for five years.
Quote:
|
In 2013, a small non-profit group decided to compare diesel emissions from European cars, which are notoriously high, with the US versions of the same vehicles. A team led by Drew Kodjak, executive director of the International Council on Clean Transportation, worked with emissions researchers at West Virginia University to test three four-cylinder 2.0-liter diesel cars in the Los Angeles area: a Jetta, a Passat, and a BMW. Only the BMW passed.
|
Quote:
|
The ICCT reported its findings to the EPA and the California Air Resources Board. Regulators met with VW officials in 2014 and the automaker agreed to fix the problem with a voluntary recall. But in July 2015, CARB did some follow up testing and again the cars failed—the scrubber technology was present, but off most of the time.
|
Sensors disabled clean mode when the steering wheel was moving.
VW Could Fool the EPA, But It Couldn't Trick Chemistry | WIRED