Volkswagen has announced it is recalling approximately 2.6 million cars worldwide, a third of which are in China. The company said 800,000 Tiguan vehicles worldwide, including 147,000 in Germany, built between the beginning of 2008 and the middle of 2011, are recalled because a fuse may trip and cause one of the two vehicle light circuits to fail. This in turn would cause individual light functions to fail.
According to VW, replacing the fuse with one with a tougher surface coating only takes a few minutes, with affected vehicle owners to be informed by the company accordingly.
The carmaker also announced it is recalling 239,000 Amarok pick-ups globally (12,359 in Germany) built between the vehicle’s launch and June 2013. That’s because “some Amarok pick-ups with a 2-litre TDI engine may be affected by leaks to the fuel pipe within the engine compartment,” VW said. To avoid any accidental damage to the fuel lines a chafe protector will be fitted at the affected points as part of the recall action.
Besides the Tiguan and Amarok, VW said it will request all owners of VW Group cars with a 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox (DQ200) filled with synthetic oil to visit a workshop for an oil exchange. Around 1.6 million vehicles are affected by this recall, most of them located in China (640,309 cars) and Southeast Asia. Furthermore, 207,778 Tiguans will be recalled in China as well.
VW has discovered that on cars with the 7-speed DSG “electric malfunctions could occur in the gearbox power supply if synthetic gearbox oil is used.” That happens particularly if the vehicle is subject to a hot and humid climate, coupled with a high proportion of stop & go driving, VW added.
The remedy is to replace the synthetic oil with mineral oil. Models affected by this recall in China are imported VW cars like the Scirocco, Golf Variant, Golf Cabriolet and Beetle, as well as locally built models with FAW and SAIC Motor, including the Bora, Golf, Sagitar and Magotan, Touran, Lavida, Superb, Octavia, Passat and Polo.
By Dan Mihalascu
Story References: VW via Reuters
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