Lawyers say VW drivers ‘fear for lives’ as diesel cars fail at 70mph

ONE in 10 owners of Volkswagen cars that were modified after the carbon emissions scandal have reported that their vehicles failed while travelling at high speed, a law firm has said.

Thousands of owners of affected cars – including VWS, Audis, Seats and Skodas – have reported reliability issues following the free “fix”. It was offered by Volkswagen to UK customers when the car giant had to recall 1.2million vehicles after it was caught cheating on emissions tests in 2015.

Although owners of affected cars have been compensated in the United States, VW has, so far, refused to compensate drivers in the UK.

Lawyers are now taking action on behalf of affected UK customers in a bid to win mass compensation. Now, as many as 40 per cent of those questioned have revealed that their car suffered technical problems since undergoing VW’S “fix” procedure.

A survey of more than 11,600 affected car owners who had their cars “fixed” by VW revealed that more than 1,200 had gone into so-called “limp mode” while travelling along a motorway or busy road. Several motorists told lawyers at Slater and Gordon that they had feared for their lives as they had to swerve across two lanes of traffic to reach safety as their car suffered a drastic loss of power while travelling at 70mph on a motorway.

Almost 500 said their cars had gone into limp mode while travelling on a motorway. Other reported problems include a reduction in fuel efficiency (18 per cent of respondents), a reduction in engine power (16 per cent), cars juddering (11 per cent) and complete engine failure (2 per cent). More than 50 per cent of respondents said they regretted having the fix carried out.

Slater and Gordon, who carried out the survey to assess the impact the fix has had on vehicles, represents more than 40,000 car owners.

More than 17,000 people replied to the survey, with in excess of 11,600 saying they had the fix carried out. It comes ahead of a High Court case that will confirm the start of one of the largest group actions in UK legal history.

Lawyers representing car owners will argue that by installing the socalled “defeat devices” to cheat on emission tests, VW deceived people into buying cars that were not compliant with regulations after making it appear that they were. VW was contacted for comment but had not replied last night.