DSG woes in The Age

[sVWatt]

Shame on VWA that it comes to this;

Government orders probe on VW 'faults'

[Hail22]

Shame on VWA that it comes to this;

Government orders probe on VW 'faults'

Knowing our Government bodies / agencies nothing will come out of this, merely a "you're doing a good job VGA keep putting our puppet citizens at risk"

[pologti18t]

You can read the history of what happened to me here:
Golf Dies For 3rd Time - TDIClub Forums

They fixed your car... what's your problem now? You even posted on that forum that you were happy and your car had no problems in 1.5 yrs.

So what makes you change your mind now? Do you think the US government was responsible for 911 as well?

Just popping in here, 1½ years later, to report that the problem has not recurred, so far.

So, in conclusion, avoid OSBORNE PARK VOLKSWAGEN who messed up my car and almost killed me (causing 5 breakdowns, some at high speed, in traffic).

[spikeyboy22]

The problem has not recurred, but it may. And others are having it, and getting the same run-around I got. So I'm commenting on it.

Have I put it simply enough for you to grasp? If not, I try again.

I think the problem is simply pologti18t, there is a problem there is a fix, but VWA will not fix it until the problem turns into a bigger one which can put peoples lives at risk

[Umai Naa!!]

Lets not confuse the difference between the symptoms, problems, and causes yeah?

The symptom - the car conks out, loses power (electrically, and performance-wise (two distinctly different symptoms!)), etc.

The cause - could be the DSG transmission, could be the injectors, could be someother electrical gremlin, etc.

The problem - could be a bad batch of components, could be Volkswagen Group Australia, could be the dealership, etc.

What I'm getting at is, while the smptom may be the same, there really isn't much point jumping to conclusions, and giving too much attention to the fear-mongering and hysteria that the media is currently perpetuating over a range of incidents that they've clearly tarred with the same brush.

However, in no way am I saying that a car losing power (be it performance, or electrical) is acceptable. Someone must be accountable, and be prepared to make good on it. Unfortunately in this day of buck-passing to protect profit margins, image, egos, and so on, customer satisfaction becomes harder to achieve.

For what it's worth, Volkswagen heavily relies on it's dealerships to send their technicians to training courses, as well as provide feedback on faults and remedies. The more investment the dealers put into technician training, the more efficiently and effectively they become in diagnosing faults, the more feedback VW receives, the better the product becomes, the happier the customer will be. In theory.

Regards

Former VW dealership technician.

[nat225]

With all this publicity, i will write on the rear window:

"PLEASE DO NOT TAILGATE, IT'S A VW AND MAY SUDDENLY STOP OUTSIDE MY WILL!!"

Yes? No?

[RoknRob]

Ha, ha!

What an awesome campaign it would b if all VW owner's did this!

Would certainly get VAG to take notice!

Love it. Safety message AND commentary. Must find me one...

[noone]

The article as stirred a number of unahppy customers with a variety of issues, DSG and non-DSG related. From what i read modern VW's with DSG's are more susceptible to issues than the manuals. Makes sense, there is a fair bit going on in a DSG.

With modern cars having more components and a higher reliablilty on the computers and electronics, there needs to be more safely built in. A car loosing brake assist and steering assist should be 1/1000000, not a story I've read a few times from Aus VW drivers alone.

Seems to me that the DSG issues are numerous and its not just 1 issue across the board. Seems to me some modern models are plagued with design / hardware issues (lets quickly give examples of current Polo GTI engine / oil dramas, MkV turbo wastegate rattles, DSG failures, etc). There is a tendency to talk about a variety of issues in threads about DSG issues. I guess its hard to know if an issue that presents as DSG is even that...

So, what does this all boil down to? When 1 issue happens, we all take it, when a singular issue is reported by more than 1 person, it feels like VW (dealer / service department, VWA, VW the company) are quick to deny there are any issues and occasionally there is a recall. I'm not personally very affected by issues, my '06 Polo was built using an engine that was known to be reliable and sold in VW's and Audi's for over 10 years. The worst I have is certain bushes / suspension components that fail too early / were not designed to last).

The sentiment from a growing portion of the VWW population is the newer models seem to have higher rates of issues which come with 1: being without the car for extended periods 2: having to go back to the dealer frequently 3: Being concerned about keeping the car outside of warranty 4: That the car is potentially dangerous

I hope that an effort is made to get more accountability from VW, but as VWA is a company that needs to turn a profit (will avoid costly recalls to stay in the green), what is the reality? Something tells me that I'll keep reading about the latest batch of engine / transmission issues in the new X model and how a number of people are upset and VW 'updates the software' and off you go, its all fixed (until you get down the road and it happens again).

Good luck to all those who are affected by the DSG and other common issues that should be delt with by VWA: Receiving a call to say there is a known issue with your model and they want to fix your car as you may have an issue in the future (yeah, not going to happen)

[wai]

By the way, I enquired whether the ACCC could do anything. The response I received was that unless it was a safety issue (and this would have to be demonstrated as being a fault in the vehicle that is known to VW and repeatable), they cannot do anything about it. It then becomes a negotiation between two parties and nothing to do with the ACCC.

The same goes for Fair Trading. Despite what the name suggests, it has nothing to do with fairness. A business can do whatever it likes as long as it is safe, AND it tells the customer what it is going to do to them. Even here, they do not have to make direct communication with the customer. They can sate this in terms and conditions they post in ANY public forum and change them as often as they like. I asked "How often I should check?", and the answer came back "As often as necessary", which means you can never stop checking.

So, in the end, it is "buyer beware". Do not ever think you can rely on governments to protect you.

[GippsCC]

About the only thing I'd agree with in some of these recent posts is that the DSG is indeed a complex box of tricks - more efficient than a manual(!), quite the achievement really.

I can't help but question if there is a problem, why is it not repeatable or more wide-spread? Such randomness doesn't make sense - given the nature of these control units, even when behaving unexpectedly, is that they behave in a consistent fashion. That is, set pre-conditions trigger effect (both in intended behaviour and unintended behaviour). These days, anybody can monitor module behaviour live (via VCDS, etc) and automatically log data as they drive (as long as you don't mind driving with your laptop in your passenger footwell, and sticking the Ross-Tech cable to the car to keep it getting tangled with your feet).

No-one can refute hard data, but until people get some, all we have is here-say. Seems an insufficient basis on which to write off the whole VAG, let alone even a model.

I could believe that such problems are possible, but not that are unable to be recorded by anything but anecdotes. After all, the braking issues with Toyota's hybrids were able to be data logged and replicated under controlled conditions (the 2010 recalls, the earlier braking issues related to mat interference and ironically the addition of friction to pedal travel so as to provide a familiar feel to older control mechanisms).

Some references to conspiracy, etc, seem very far fetched - I doubt any manufacturer as large as VAG would deliberately kill future sales (and we are talking massive markets here) by doing anything other than ensuring their cars are safe to drive! No short-cut saving could rationally justify the market at stake, far better a recall than face annihilation.