This news comes as the High Court decides whether thousands of VW owners can file a claim against VW.
Lawyers representing thousands of Volkswagen Group diesel owners claim that over 10 percent of those who had their vehicles repaired following the Dieselgate emissions controversy claim that their car lost its power at high speeds.
Slater and Gordon claim that thousands of owners of affected vehicles – such as VWs, Audis Seats and Skodas- have reported reliability problems following the repair. In fact, 40% of those questioned said their vehicle had experienced technical issues since they underwent the VW procedure.
There were several problems reported, including a decrease in fuel efficiency (18%), a reduction of engine power (16%), car juddering (11%), and total engine failure (2%) More than half of respondents regretted the procedure.
Law firm Slater and Gordon conducted the survey, which was the largest among affected car owners in the emissions scandal. It was done to evaluate the effect of the fix on vehicles. The survey was completed by more than 17,000 respondents, and over 11,600 of them said they had the fix. As the High Court case is being heard, the research will be published. This will confirm that the UK has launched one of the largest groups actions in legal history.
Semina Mohammed (37), described the moment her VW Golf TDI suddenly stalled a few days after the fix. “I have never felt so scared in a car.” She said that she genuinely feared for her life. “I was driving in the outside lane and overtook another car when suddenly the power dropped. I panicked. This had never happened before. In rush hour, I had to cross three lanes of traffic.
“Within five seconds, the car was accelerating to 10 miles an hour. It would have felt like I was playing ping-pong on the motorway. My adrenaline was pumping, and I was shaken.”
A survey revealed that eight percent of people whose cars were fixed had had more than five malfunctions.
Gareth Pope, a Slater and Gordon group litigation lawyer, represented over 40,000 people in the legal case against VW. He said that it had been more than two years since the scandal was revealed and that UK consumers have waited in vain for Volkswagen’s fair response to their complaints. Volkswagen has only offered UK consumers a solution that our clients tell us doesn’t work. These survey results, which are extremely troubling, confirm the claims of our clients that many people have experienced technical issues following the fix. It is unacceptable for our clients to be exposed to potentially dangerous situations.
More than 90 percent of respondents felt that the emissions scandal had affected their car’s value. 87 percent felt Volkswagen was less trustworthy after the news about the cheating.