Volkswagen emissions: 1,500 cars a week ‘fixed’

AROUND 1,500 vehicles a week are being dealt with by Volkswagen here in the wake of the emissions-cheating scandal. But around 100,000 owners still have to bring in their vehicles, judging by new figures.

It is understood there has been a ‘significant’ increase in the number having approved ‘technical measures’ applied over recent weeks.

This follows approval by the regulatory authorities for so-called ‘fixes’ to the 1.6-litre diesel-engined cars.

Those models would have been far and away the most popular, on the Irish market, of those affected by the emissions scandal.

They also required updates for software and hardware.

That has been a different proposition than the other engines involved – the 1.2-litre and 2-litre diesels – which have only required software applications.

The hardware element involves fitting a new ‘flow transformer’ to help better regulate how fuel and air are burned in the engine. Fitting this and the software update takes around an hour. The other engines are usually sorted in half that time.

It would appear the approval on remedies for 1.6-litre engines has led to a big increase in work carried out for customers.

The maruqe’s Irish arm (Volkswagen Group Ireland – VGIE) sold 82,569 vehicles affected by the NOx emissions scandal.

But the company says it is continuing to monitor used imports which might be affected too so that all “relevant vehicles” in Ireland are included.

To date that means a total of 131,242 vehicles now in the country (cars, commercials) – Audis, Skodas, SEATs and Volkswagens – have been affected.

Responding to a query from Independent Motors, the company said technical measures have been approved for a total of 113,333 – or 86pc of affected vehicles.

They say owners have been informed.

“The majority of these vehicles had the technical measures approved relatively recently, and we now see a significant increase in vehicles having the technical measures implemented with a rate of approximately 1,500 vehicles per week being achieved.

“To date, 32,736 vehicles have had the technical measures implemented in the Republic of Ireland,” the company said.