The present generation automobiles are highly sophisticated when compared to the ones of the previous century. Integration of electronics with mechanical systems has helped mankind to create machines that would push through any possible limit. Fuel injection systems, fully automatic transmissions, fully automatic suspension systems and ABS are few outcomes of this program. With the introduction of electronics, mechanisms have become complicated but performance oriented.
With complications, possibility of failures increase and failure forces the companies to recall their vehicles. All the countries have now become a prey of recall. The recent ones in our country include GM’s Tavera for engine emission issue, Ford’s Figo for electrical problem and Honda’s CBR250R for brake issues. If we consider the globe, the number increases substantially. Volkswagen is recalling 26.4 lakh vehicles globally across various models. The electrical, drive-train and faulty fuel lines have been blamed for the call-back.
Volkswagen has noticed problems with the oil in the semi-automatic transmissions for some models. The company is recommending using mineral oil instead of the synthetic one. The synthetic oil used is unable to retain its properties in hot and humid conditions leading to overheating of the transmission yielding poor performance. The recall to fix this issue includes various models of Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and Seat brands.
Volkswagen is recalling 16 lakh cars throughout the globe for just the DSG transmission issues. Majority of the affected cars are in China, 6.4 lakh units in total. The issue concerns cars paired to a 7-speed DSG automatic gearbox (DQ200), the same transmission which does duty on quite a few VW cars in our country. However there is no word on whether Volkswagen cars in India will be recalled, even though they use the affected gearbox.
The company is also recalling 8 lakh Tiguan to fix lighting problems. Tiguan is a compact crossover vehicle (CUV) which shares its platform with the Golf. 2.4 Lakh units of the Amarok pickup have also been recalled to rectify the fuel leakage issue. The cost of this recall is estimated to be somewhere around 100 million Euros.
