I. Causes of the incident
On September 10, China Business News, Easy Car and Youku jointly hosted a large-scale car evaluation program "Car Review", focusing on the imported Volkswagen Touareg. This SUV, with a price of 600,000 ~ 900,000 yuan, recently suffered a collective complaint from the owner because of the water inlet system, resulting in a "water inlet gate" and even being dubbed by the owner as "it can only be opened on a sunny day". Under the denunciation of more than 200 car owners, the imported Volkswagen issued a statement saying that it would conduct a comprehensive inspection of the sold Touareg models from 20 15 to 20 17, and remove unnecessary drain valves to enhance the drainage function. Some car owners have accepted the scheme put forward by Volkswagen imported cars, but there are still many car owners who do not recognize such a treatment. In particular, the owners of vehicles damaged by the "Watergate" are extremely dissatisfied with the attitude of the imported public and dealers to solve things, thinking that they are secretive and insincere.
When the reporter of "China Business News" called the relevant person in charge of the importing public to inquire about the progress of communication with the owner, the other party refused the interview with harsh words of "inconvenience". Through communication with rights-defending car owners, the reporter learned that nearly 100 damaged car owners have raised more than 300,000 yuan, hired lawyers and are making preparations before prosecution. And the funds raised are still increasing, which is expected to reach 500,000 ~ 600,000 yuan. The imported public will face or will be the first class action lawsuit of domestic imported car brands. Coincidentally, the last model brought to China by consumers was FAW-Volkswagen Sagitar under the Volkswagen brand.
Second, medium-term development
Recently, the list of complaints about automobile quality defects released by the Defective Product Management Center of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine in August showed that the number of complaints from Touareg ranked first in August was 16 1, which was twice that of Cruze ranked second. In fact, this is the third consecutive month that Touareg has occupied the first place in the car defect complaint model list since June this year. The reason for a large number of complaints from car owners is that there are serious defects in the design of the intake pipe, and the engine is easily damaged by water in rainy days, which eventually leads to the common cylinder pulling (after a slight cylinder pulling, there will be greater engine noise and smoke burning oil; Severe cylinder pulling will make the cylinder block, piston and piston ring stick together, and the engine will stall. From June 23rd to September14th, there were as many as 280 owners who complained about the Touareg water intake system on the national comprehensive management information platform for defective product recall.
According to the owner, since the rainy season this year, many Touareg owners have problems such as unable to start after rain, flameout during driving, and wet air filtration. After the actual measurement, the car owners think that all this is caused by the design defects of imported Volkswagen. Because the air inlet of the engine is close to the right front headlight, when water flows from the front cover from top to bottom, it will flow over the edge of the headlight and be introduced into the air inlet. In other words, when the vehicle is parked, water will flow into the air inlet. If the amount is small, it will soak the air filter element, and if the amount is large, it will suck water into the engine, causing serious losses such as cylinder pulling. It is understood that if the engine is seriously flooded or needs to be disassembled, it will be a huge maintenance cost of nearly 200,000 yuan. According to a survey conducted by Automotive Review, in July this year, the importing public asked 4S stores to unplug the drain valve at the front end of the air inlet for all Touareg models that came to the store for maintenance, and did not take the initiative to inform the owners. Judging from the information obtained from the survey, the imported public has mastered the problem of Touareg air filter or engine water intake, which also makes consumers more angry.
More and more Touareg owners find that their vehicles also have the problem of water intake because the engine cylinder is damaged by water intake. To this end, they spontaneously organized a rights exchange group on the Internet. On July 28th, the Inspection and Supervision Department of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (hereinafter referred to as "AQSIQ") replied to a complaint from a car owner. The other party said that after receiving the complaint case, AQSIQ will organize research on quality risk information related to imported cars according to laws and regulations, and seriously carry out investigations to verify whether the car has batch same-sex design or manufacturing defects. In the process of car owners' rights protection for more than four months, the imported public also gave four phased solutions, namely: let car owners handle insurance and take insurance claims; Free engine maintenance; Extend the warranty after maintenance and eliminate defects (unplug unnecessary plugs); And engine replacement and plug removal so far.
The collective rights protection of car owners has played a great role. One month after receiving the reply from AQSIQ, the importing public finally issued a statement on the water intake problem of vehicle air filters reflected by Touareg owners. According to the statement, the sold 20 15 to 20 17 Touareg models will be thoroughly inspected, all foreign bodies in the Touareg intake will be removed, and valves will be removed to enhance the drainage function. But there was no mention of the recall.
This is beyond the understanding of the owners. They hope that the importing public can carry out a recall to solve the defect that rainwater will flow into the air inlet from the root, instead of letting rainwater flow into the air inlet. It is so simple and irresponsible to simply strengthen drainage. On the other hand, the importing public still has not given a reasonable compensation scheme to the car owners who caused the losses.
Xiao He (pseudonym), who tests engine parts in an automobile manufacturer, said that in fact, the most worry-free method is to improve the waterproofing of many surfaces of the trachea production mold to avoid water, but there is still a chance to enter the slightly cool water; Or change the intake pipe mold from the limited space in the car to a suitable position, but the intake position and intake pipe need to be redesigned, so the cost will not be less, depending on the attitude of the manufacturer.
Third, contradictions have gradually intensified.
Judging from the current situation, there are still relatively few cases of class action lawsuits of car owners in China. On the other hand, there have been similar cases in the United States, Europe and even South Korea. Previously, American consumers filed a class action lawsuit against the public because of the public "emission gate" incident. In the end, you can not only choose to trade in the old car or sell the old car back to the dealer, but also get compensation ranging from $7,039 to $65,438 +06 1 14 (about RMB 40,000 to 14). This time, if the Touareg owners formally file a lawsuit, it may also open a new chapter in the collective rights protection of China car owners. Class action is called party selection system in Japan and France, and class action system in Germany. In China, group litigation is called litigation representative system in civil procedure law. "Because the transaction costs of a few litigants have not been solved, the practicality and operability are not strong." A lawyer told reporters that the representative of the lawsuit is elected by everyone or agreed by the court and the majority, but the litigants are distributed all over the country, and this process is very difficult. However, judging from the 300,000 funds currently raised by Touareg owners and the price of Touareg vehicles themselves, it seems that these owners are not suing for more money, but more because they do not agree with the imported public.
"The solution given by the imported public cannot solve the problem of product defects at all." A Touareg owner told reporters that unplugging the drain valve on the intake pipe will reduce the wading performance of the whole vehicle, and it will also lead to the extension of the life of the air filter and the acceleration of carbon deposition on the throttle, which will inevitably increase the owner's car use and maintenance costs. The imported Volkswagen still refuses to admit that its vehicle design is defective, which makes the owners very disappointed. The collective rights protection demands of Touareg owners are mainly divided into two categories: the cost of returning the car and the corresponding losses that have caused the car to pull the cylinder. Other car owners require the importing public to rectify the defects and compensate for the mental loss (public apology, etc.). In fact, so far, there are still consumers who have been "recruited" because they don't know. "I only drove more than 65438+100000 kilometers. I didn't drive when it rained on the first day. The rain stopped the next day. I drove out and stopped driving for 500 meters. " A car owner who just bought a Touareg on 20 16 said that he didn't know what the car was like at first, but when it broke down, he searched the Internet and found it was a "water inlet". In addition, the lawyer team of the defender also said. After the lawsuit, a relatively reasonable solution will definitely be obtained, and it is normal for the court to give a result in 2~3 years. It is impossible to solve the problem without litigation, which is also an appeal to consumers to rationally use legal channels to solve their difficulties.
As more and more car owners find the above problems and join the Touareg rights protection team, many consumers who originally planned to buy Touareg are "discouraged" from this car. Relative to the problems of the vehicle itself, the mutual prevarication and concealment between dealers and manufacturers make consumers who want to spend 600,000 ~ 900,000 yuan to buy a car wonder where the services of imported Volkswagen luxury brands are.
Before 4.3 15, Volkswagen issued a statement and proposed a solution.
Volkswagen China said that for some vehicles within the scope of this recall, because the drain valve installed at the bottom of the engine intake pipe may be blocked by dust, leaves or other foreign objects, water may flow into the intake pipe from the gap of headlights and cannot be effectively discharged through the drain valve, which will form water at the bottom of the air filter housing, resulting in the air filter being flooded. If there is too much water in the intake pipe of the engine and it cannot be effectively discharged, water may be sucked into the engine when the engine is started or accelerated, resulting in engine damage and flameout, which poses a safety hazard.
Volkswagen (China) Sales Co., Ltd. will remove the unnecessary drain valve in the air intake pipeline for the vehicles within the recall scope, and install a deflector at the air intake to prevent excessive water from entering the air intake pipeline, so as to eliminate the defects. After the defects are eliminated, the stock vehicles will be sold.
If the engine of the vehicle is turned off, please park the vehicle in a safe place and contact the nearest dealer for proper maintenance as soon as possible. After the recall begins, the user should contact the dealer for maintenance as soon as possible.
The above content comes from the Internet for reference only.