Volkswagen India recalls Polo GT, Vento and Jetta

Volkswagen India has issued an official recall for the Volkswagen Polo GT, Vento and the Jetta citing “necessary updates”. The affected models were manufactured between April 1, 2015 and March 31, 2017. The number of affected units have not been revealed.

The Volkswagen Jetta 1.4 TSI variants are affected and have been recalled for the replacement of the O-rings in the carbon canister. The recall is as per the Conformity of Production (COP) process agreed with the Automotive Research Authority of India (ARAI). The affected carbon canister is used to absorb the fuel vapour to prevent air pollution. The recall is a part of the dieselgate scandal where Volkswagen used a ‘defeat device’ to cheat the emission tests around the world. The updates on the Polo and Vento are not known.

On 1st April 2016, Volkswagen India issued a recall for 3,877 units of the Vento that was powered by the 1.5-litre diesel engine and manual gearbox. The earlier recall was made to rectify the inconsistent carbon monoxide emissions. At the same time, the sales of the model were stopped in the Indian market. ARAI found the carbon dioxide levels to be much higher than the permissible limits in India. As per the ARAI test, the on-road emissions were found to be 1.1 to 2.6 times higher than the applicable BS-IV norms.

Volkswagen Group recalled as many as 3.4 lakh vehicles in India from various sub-brands in December 2015. The recall affected brands like Audi, Volkswagen and Skoda that were sold between September 2008 till the end of November 2015. The EA h 189 diesel engines of the Volkswagen family were found to be much more polluting than the permissible limit and came with a cheat device that allowed it to pass the emission tests. In 2016, Volkswagen announced plans to update the engines of all the recalled vehicles with new software.

Dieselgate is one of the biggest scams in the history of automotives in the world. Volkswagen has announced a number of budget-cut measures to counter the losses faced by various lawsuits in the US.