Volkswagen and Audi Recall

[EddyN]

Volkswagen and Audi Recall 2001, 2002 and Some 2003 Models

Volkswagen and Audi announced a "customer service action" in which the companies will ultimately replace the ignition coils in all 2001 and 2002 model year cars equipped with certain engines that have been experiencing a higher-than-normal failure rate. Also affected are very early production 2003 models.

The companies are currently notifying all customers potentially affected and are initially replacing those ignition coils that fail at no cost, they said in a press release.

The updated customer service action, replacing all ignition coils whether they fail or not, will be implemented in the coming months.

"We know that some ignition coils installed in our cars are not up to our high quality standards, and we are determined to do the right thing for our customers. The right thing to do is to fix every single car with these coils by replacing them whether they are broken yet or not. That is exactly what we will do as soon as we have the parts," said Gerd Klauss, president and CEO, Volkswagen of America, Inc.

The vehicles affected in this action include cars equipped with 1.8 liter engines, which includes the Audi TT and A4; and the VW Golf/GTI, Jetta, New Beetle and Passat. The companies also included the Passat W8 engine, all VW's equipped with the 2.8 liter VR6; as well as the Audi 3.0 liter V6 engine. In total, approximately 530,000 cars are affected by this action.

The ignition coils provide electricity to the engine's spark plugs during operation. Volkswagen and Audi say that they have recognized through service reports that the ignition coils used in the products listed above have a higher-than-normal failure rate. If an ignition coil fails, the check engine light/malfunction indicator lamp will blink. The car's performance may, in some cases, become rough and/or the engine will lose some power and the car should be taken to an authorized dealer for repair.

Customers with questions should call VW Customer Relations toll-free at (800) 822-8987 or Audi Customer Relations toll-free at (800) 822-2834.

About time!!!!

Ed

[urq20vt]

Bet that coil supplier is losing their @ss on this one. It's funny how we always blame the car manufacturer, not their supplier who is actually responsible for the defective components, when things like this happen.

It's easy to say that it took too long, but consider what goes into a recall of this scale. IMHO, I would say VW/Audi is doing a great job on this one.

[phred]

Did they design the part, write out the specs and then shop it around to the lowest bidder? And, likely, if/when problems arose did they tell the supplier tough luck, fix it and eat the cost if you still want to do business with us?

I'm not saying that part of the problem isn't with Bremi, but why are you letting VW off the hook? Even if, arguendo, the supplier totally screwed up, who's doing the QC at VW who didn't catch it?

[Singletrack]

[urq20vt]

They must supply documentation proving compliance with form, fit, function and durability. Manufacturers do not test every component for compliance. That is the vendors responsibility. If a vendor does not meet these specs, although their documentation says that they do it is their problem. If they do not remedy the situation, they are unlikely to continue to be an OEM supplier for long. Considering that specifications for engine mounted components are pretty much written in stone, my bet is that it is a vendor quality problem, not one of an incorrect specification.

If the requirement specifications for the component from VW/Audi were wrong (say the temp. spec was too low), and the component met these specifications, but failed when operated outside the designed parameters, it is VW/Audi's fault for mis-specifying the component.

Either one is possible, but the latter is unlikely IME.

[phred]

there's also a cost POV, as in make as many of them as cheaply as possible. It's possible that they went a little too cheap to please the accountants over the engineers.

[urq20vt]

If the vendor underpriced the component, that is their problem. They still must meet quality standards and provide accountability and traceability. This is just standard ISO 9000, six sigma manufacturing quality type stuff. ALL suppliers must adhere to the same standards. When there is a problem, you trace it to the source, fix it, document the fix (and why it will NEVER happen again) and provide a method to remedy the situation. The remedy in this case is to replace ALL coils. I highly doubt Audi is footing the bill for the coils. I wouldn't even doubt if the vendor is somehow compensating Audi for the recall costs.

Trust me, the vendor is getting beaten up on this one big time. It happens all the time in the auto industry.

[EddyN]

Both audi and vw were still selling these cars after (yes AFTER) they knew the coils were defective!!!! Last May, VW/Audi knew (yes KNEW) there was a problem. My wife bought hers in July and they were still selling the defective ones from the dealer lots in NOVEMBER!!!

Eddy

now coils are being replaced one at a time... some customers are returning 3-4 times.... some have even damaged and had catalytic converters replaced.... total damage = $1700

[EddyN]

[Vincent in Montreal]

I have just called my dealer about it and it's gona start in about a month and a half. No A6 included on this recall, only 1.8T powered Audi and VW.