Volkswagen Group AC issues seem to have become a continuing ordeal, owners say both companies are clueless
Around a couple of months back, we published an article about AC issues faced by the owners of the latest Volkswagen Group cars based on the MQB-A0-IN platform. At that time, we said that the customers were reporting such problems from as early as April.
Now, it’s August and almost 4 months have passed. It seems, both the companies have still not addressed their customer concerns. A group of new customers have reached out to us to share their harrowing experiences.
The users said whenever they take their cars to the service centres for this particular issue, the only reply is that the team concerned will look into it.
“And the only solution they have as of now is gas top-up, pressure check, and software reload which anyway don’t solve the problem,” they said. Another important aspect the owners mentioned was regarding how the service centres were trained to buy time.
It seems the service centres have given customers random dates informing that a fix will be available by then. When the owners had approached after the said dates, there seems to be no reply other than plain silence.
The users informed that the service centres were also not ready to commit to any of their assurances. “They are not ready to promise anything in writing. All they want is to buy time by managing the situation,” the customers added.
There are instances reported by owners about how just days old cars are staying idle at the service centres across the country.
For starters, Volkswagen Group cars are reportedly facing severe AC compressor tripping issues among other major problems as the social media and forums are abuzz with complaints by owners.
They claimed that, in cars like the Volkswagen Taigun, Virtus, Skoda Kushaq, and Slavia, the AC compressors randomly switch off in slow moving traffic leading to the cabin temperatures rising fast to the point that the journey becomes uncomfortable.
Users said the issues are more pronounced on the 1-litre TSI models of these cars while some also claimed the the same on the 1.5-litre models.
Skoda India Director Zac Hollis has said, “We are aware of this feedback from some customers, particularly in hot conditions in prolonged stop start traffic. The engineers are working on a solution to improve the AC performance. Any improvement will be for new cars and offered to existing customers.”
Volkswagen India, in an official statement said, “The AC systems in our cars have been designed to provide maximum comfort while maintaining an optimal fuel efficiency. We follow rigorous quality check protocols and AC efficiency is also monitored for every model. We request not have any apprehension towards our product and services.”
The company also said, “We are aware that a few customers might have faced AC cooling concerns, especially in the regions where the temperatures are soaring high. There are chances that it takes more time to bring cabin temperature as per the occupant’s requirement.”
“Please be assured that our technical teams are working to analyse further the improvements in AC performance in specific operating conditions,” it added.