Volkswagen Issues Global Recall of 2.64 Million Vehicles

[Rawcpoppa]

Even the jetta hybrid is affected and it's relatively new. I'm even hearing some golf 7 will be affected as well. 1.6 million seems quite low now considering how many vehicles ship with dq200 dsg.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/au...les.html?_r=1&

"Volkswagen will also recall 3,900 Jetta hybrids from the 2013-14 model years equipped with direct-shift automatic transmissions – with a DQ200 designation in the United States – the automaker reported to N.H.T.S.A. Volkswagen says the synthetic fluid used in the gearbox can cause electrical problems by allowing corrosion of the internal lead frame of the gearbox. That could cause a loss of power to the front wheels. The synthetic fluid will be replaced with a mineral-based oil.

The 2013-14 Jetta hybrid is the only vehicle Volkswagen sells in the United States that uses the DQ200 transmission, Mark Gillies, a VW spokesman, said in an interview.

The worldwide recall includes about 800 Tiguans, about 200,000 Amarok pickup trucks and 1.6 million vehicles equipped with the DQ200 transmission, the automaker said. Many of the vehicles were sold in China."



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[Diesel_vert]

It should be noted that vehicle manufacturers revise parts all the time as the manufacturing process evolves during the model's life cycle and bugs are continually ironed out. It also goes without saying that they don't recall vehicles for every single revision if they're not compelled to.

As a result, the most reliable purchases tend to be models that approach the end of their production cycle, which may benefit from all the latest components and revisions.

Such is the nature of the industry.

If I had my tinfoil hat on, I'd say this recall was instigated primarily to appease the vocal Chinese market - a massive, and therefore, very important market - as the number of DQ200 units affected in China stands at about 640 000 (40% of the total). In addition, Volkswagen have invested a lot of capital in China, so doing nothing may have added further risk and uncertainty on anticipated financial returns.

Despite that, I'm inclined to think this will benefit both manufacturer profits and consumer satisfaction over the long term.

Whatever their motivations, I hope this campaign will finally solve a lot of the problems on what has proved to be a very troublesome gearbox for Volkswagen, and perhaps really get the company to start looking at improving the overall mechanical quality and reliability of their vehicles.

Pulled my recall invoice for the mechatronic unit out and it reads

Campaign 35CI

Parts
ATF Oil <<Vcp35a7 (1187 2 V*g052512a2
Recall code label 1 V*00001006
Mechatron 1 V*0am325025dxzzz

The good part Total cost 0.00

The date done was 03/10/13 Mileage 11900

So I guess it now has the mineral oil in the mechatronic part of the box?????

The basic part number 0AM 325 025 refers to the mechatronics unit for the DQ200. DX and ZZZ are further identifiers which relate to a specific vehicle, engine or software configuration.

The transmission oil (G 052 171 A2 or G 052 512 A2, depending on the gearbox build date) is supposed to be drained whenever the mechatronics unit is removed from the gearbox, hence its presence on the invoice.

Once the original mechatronics unit has been removed, the hydraulic fluid is not drained by the dealer, and is returned to Volkswagen with the fluid intact. New or revised units arrive pre-filled with the required hydraulic fluid (G 004 000 M2 or otherwise). This explains why the part number for the hydraulic fluid won't appear on the invoice.

Therefore, I don't know what the part number for the new hydraulic fluid is.

The above information relates to the 35C1 campaign. I don't know what the latest campaign entails - my guess is that whatever component still has synthetic fluid in it (gearbox, mechatronics unit, or both) will be drained or replaced with mineral fluid, but again, early days.

The switchover in 2011 seems to be oil used in the gearbox. Not oil used in the mechatronic unit. This recall just issued has to do with changing the oil in the mechatronic unit. Your false neutral has to do with the mechatronic unit. I can understand why you are upset but I think we need more facts on the issue. When I google G051512A2 this is the first link that comes up:

G-052-512-A2 - Synthetic Oil Europe

It's saying its a synthetic oil. Now I'm confused as someone said its a mineral oil. And that's just the oil for the gearbox/clutches. There is even less info on the oil inside the mechatronic unit.

Using Google to research a broad range of sources (rather than just the first link that appears), I have a fairly high degree of confidence to suggest that G 052 512 A2 oil is of a mineral base.

[Rawcpoppa]

^^^ I think you're right on that too as I came across more sources (afterwards) referring to the G052512A2 as mineral based.

After going over that document pertaining to the maintenance of mechatronic units I'm more inclined to believe VW may be shipping replacement mechatronic units pre filled rather than issuing steps towards refilling with new fluid in existing mechatronic units. What do you guys think?

[ziggyboy]

The switchover in 2011 seems to be oil used in the gearbox. Not oil used in the mechatronic unit. This recall just issued has to do with changing the oil in the mechatronic unit. Your false neutral has to do with the mechatronic unit. I can understand why you are upset but I think we need more facts on the issue. When I google G051512A2 this is the first link that comes up:

G-052-512-A2 - Synthetic Oil Europe

It's saying its a synthetic oil. Now I'm confused as someone said its a mineral oil. And that's just the oil for the gearbox/clutches. There is even less info on the oil inside the mechatronic unit.


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That's plain wrong. Read the other posts in this thread. Some people with 2012 cars were told their cars are not affected by the recall.

That website you posted is probably wrong. It is not a VW site. It probably suggests oils that they think are compatible with the gearbox.

[ziggyboy]

Still think number of issues and the way it was handled is the same as all other manufacturers?

Volkswagen warned of systemic problem with Polo, Golf models, but waited 10 months to act

[Candyman]

Systemic problem from 8 owners ?

Thats a big leap.

[Tornado T5]

The financial gurus work out the cost of "doing nothing for as long as possible" vs an official recall vs service bulletins dealing individually as a vehicle is serviced hoping this works however who works out the cost of a brands reputation? All companies have recalls, it's what happens leading up to it, are they dragged kicking and screaming, embarrassed by bad press, some not justified (not the case here it seems) or do they act before their customers have pulled their hair out hitting corporate barricades? Wonder if it's too late for T6 to have a "conventional auto"?

[Rawcpoppa]

That's plain wrong. Read the other posts in this thread. Some people with 2012 cars were told their cars are not affected by the recall.

That website you posted is probably wrong. It is not a VW site. It probably suggests oils that they think are compatible with the gearbox.

The website is possibly wrong yes.

I don't understand the context about some 2012 owners being told they are not affected?just to clarify we are talking about the recall a few months ago dealing with replacing mechatronic units?


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[Diesel_vert]

After going over that document pertaining to the maintenance of mechatronic units I'm more inclined to believe VW may be shipping replacement mechatronic units pre filled rather than issuing steps towards refilling with new fluid in existing mechatronic units. What do you guys think?

Yes, that would be my assumption.

Given what we know so far, if the hydraulic fluid needs to be replaced, it seems probable that Volkswagen would send a new mechatronics unit (pre-filled with the correct fluid). Probably wise - less chance for mistakes.

It seems unlikely the dealer would be asked to drain and refill the mechatronics unit.

Still think number of issues and the way it was handled is the same as all other manufacturers?

On the whole, I would say so.

Volkswagen's only problem was they got caught out, owing to a combination of "unfavourable" events.

Much as we empathise with you and others on this forum, you are not the first driver to suffer from false neutrals, nor will you be the last - and that applies across the entire automotive spectrum.

Having said that, I would also make the observation that some gearboxes are clearly less troublesome than others.

The financial gurus work out the cost of "doing nothing for as long as possible" vs an official recall vs service bulletins dealing individually as a vehicle is serviced hoping this works however who works out the cost of a brands reputation? All companies have recalls, it's what happens leading up to it, are they dragged kicking and screaming, embarrassed by bad press, some not justified (not the case here it seems) or do they act before their customers have pulled their hair out hitting corporate barricades? Wonder if it's too late for T6 to have a "conventional auto"?

That would partly explain why there was no similar "recall" for the Aisin 6-speed auto, which suffered from relatively premature gearbox failures in some instances - only varying levels of goodwill assistance and repairs were offered on a case-by-case basis, so I would assume that some owners were covered for all costs, some not.

[Rawcpoppa]

I would wager this recall is less of the finance guys telling vw to do nothing versus vw not really having a damn clue on this issue with respect to dq200. If they did know they would have issued a production change in etka months ago to new vehicles. The fact that 2013-2014 jetta hybrids and golf 7 vehicles might be affected also to me seems like they messed up technically.


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