Over the past few years we’ve seen it covered in the news, but what is the VW emissions scandal? In late 2015 it was uncovered that thousands of cars manufactured by the Volkswagen group had been fitted with software which tampered with the vehicles emissions results. As the VW group not only manufacture Volkswagen, but also Audi, SEAT and Skoda, this was a scandal that had a huge negative impact on the motoring industry and affected thousands of people across the US in particular.
During the production of any car, it has to pass a specific criteria in order for it to be in a sellable position. There is a long list of important checks that car manufacturers will carry out and for anyone buying a new car, you’d expect this to be done correctly, for the purpose of your own safety and for the people around you. Once the VW scandal had been uncovered, it was reported that one of the main checks carried out on a vehicle, the emissions test, hadn’t met the required standards. It was discovered that a large amount of cars in the US had been fitted with a device which changed the results of an emissions test. This meant that cars created by the VW group were being advertised as “good” for the environment, but actually this wasn’t the case. If you’re worried that you could be driving a car that isn’t as eco-friendly for the environment as you first thought – then you may wish to have your car tested somewhere such as this smog shop in Sacramento, or a similar emission testing shop.
The brand faced a huge backlash from the discovery and resulted in many consumers seeking legal advice from lawyers like Slater Gordon. To find out a bit more about the scandal and how vehicles were affected after the recall, Slater & Gordon carried out a survey from more than 11,000 VW users.
- A large 40% of people said their vehicle suffered technical issues after undergoing the VW’s procedure or “fix”.
- 11% of people said their vehicle had experienced juddering since being “fixed”.
- 1,200 vehicles that were “fixed” by VW went into “limp mode” whilst travelling at 70mph.
- After the scandal was uncovered it was found that only 18% of people surveyed would consider by a VW vehicle again.
As you can see from the stats above, the scandal had a huge impact on both VW consumers and the brand itself. Volkswagen, a big brand in the motoring industry, promoted themselves as having a “clean diesel” image, but the scandal was soon to have a negative impact on this bold statement.
We all want to play our part and help lower the amount of emissions that our polluting our environment and many of these can be done by making changes to your car. A lot of newer vehicles now have stop-start technology but if not, turn your engine off when you come to a standstill, carry out its annual MOT and service, consider buying an electric car and walk wherever possible.
These are just a few changes that you can make to help better our environment. If you have been affected by the VW scandal and are unsure what to do, then it’s best to seek legal advice and get the professional help you need.
