VW drivers protest ‘faulty’ fix

Volkswagen owners protested outside the company’s UK headquarters in Milton Keynes yesterday, claiming their vehicles were not working properly after being recalled following the diesel emissions scandal.

Millions of cars have been recalled by VW after it admitted using illegal software to disguise the level of emissions produced by its diesel powered cars.

Some drivers now say the fix to the illegal software has caused problems with their vehicles, but VW maintain that there is no evidence of this.

About 30 motorists protested, holding banners saying ‘It wasn’t broke until VW fixed it’ and ‘VW broke out trust, now they’ve broken our vehicles.’

Speaking to the BBC, protest organiser Gareth Pritchard said, ‘We’ve noticed mechanical failures, people are saying they’re struggling with excessive fuel consumption and they’re experiencing increased noise and vibration. Throughout all this, Volkswagen say none of this is due the fix and these things are just happening. We feel like we’ve been pushed in to this situation where we have to come down to Milton Keynes to raise awareness.’

Paul Buckett, head of corporate affairs at Volkswagen, said, ‘Our customers are our top priority. To date, we have implemented the technical measures in 665,000 vehicles in the UK and the overwhelming majority of affected customers are satisfied.

‘As we have said all along, there is no evidence of any adverse impact on the residual value of the affected vehicles as a result of this issue or with their performance following the implementation of the technical measure.’