Volkswagen Polo recalled in India over handbrake defect

Volkswagen India had us all worried when it asked its dealers to stop the sale of the Polo hatchback with immediate effect yesterday. While it was clear, via a company statement, that it wasn’t related to the ‘Diesel Gate’ scandal, but the issue was left unknown, until now. Today the company has recalled 389 units of the car due to a handbrake defect.

The affected cars are from a lot manufactured last month (September 2015), and are recalled as a preventive measure. According to the company, the handbrake in these 389 units (and the rest manufactured in September which weren’t sold) the handbrake would lose effectiveness in certain conditions, due to a possible breakage of cable retention levers.

The owners of the cars delivered from this lot will be contacted by the dealerships, and the repair is said to take about an hour. It will, of course, be free of cost. VW will continue deliveries of the car from the unaffected lot, while the normal sales of the affected lot will begin once the repairs are taken care of.

It comes as a relief that this was the reason why the company hastily stopped the Polo’s sales, and, thankfully, not ‘Diesel Gate’. But sadly no handbrake turns (like the one below) until VW checks and repairs the cars.

(Image courtesy: carwow)