Why your car could be caught up in the VW scandal

jimmski, as of 1st October 2015 there will exist the ability, under the Consumer Rights Act, to lodge a "collective action" against VW. This is akin to the existing U.S. "Class Action" facility. Unfortunately, whilst the most efficient route should be action taken by HM Govt against VW I believe such action would fail. It is not VW's responsibility to get involved in how HMRC levy or raise tax. However, when a private individual or indeed a large company/fleet operator buys VW (or Seat, Audi etc.) cars they are entering into a contract based upon the cars stated specification. I think such a collective action will be launched (and win) and I think VW might file for bankruptcy.

I understand the cheat applies only when the car is in "test" mode. When being tested certain critical aspects are turned off. Airbags for example. The software senses this and assumes a test is to be undertaken. It's during this phase that urea is injected. If the software is modified to remove this feature it would only affect the testing phase and not the running phase. Therefore, the driver would not notice any difference when driving normally as nothing would change from the present setup. I'm starting to think though that a larger tank of urea could provide the benefit throughout the full driving phase not just the testing phase. Sourcing enough urea for all the cars in Britain could become a problem however. I think given the circumstances here we should demand the the E.U. take the urea from the Germans. We've had the urea taken from us long enough :-)

mikecunlitte's proposal to surcharge owners of affected VW's and then compensate them through suing VW would be unfair and would disadvantage thousands of motorists. Suing a company like VW would be a lengthy and protacted process; fine for those of us who are educated and motivated to do so. But think of the the thousands of people who would struggle to deal with that situation. How many would know what to do? How many would simply give up because of all the hssle involed? This would punish those who had mistakenly bought a VW in good faith beleiving that they did what they said on the tin. A better approach would be for your MP to get the government to sue the VW on behalf of the people affected and then have the cars fixed with the results of the legal process. After all if you surcharge someone for polluting you're not actually stopping the pollution. You're just taxing them. Where does that moeny go to? As per passenger flying tax, it just disappears into the coffers. Its doesn't actively reduce emissions. Sue VW and fix the problem. Don't punish the innocent punters.