The Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda group has been accused of knowingly selling cars with defective SOS warning systems that in some cases failed before the new owner had left the dealership.
Since 2018 all new cars sold across the EU have been required to have an eCall system that automatically contacts the emergency services with the vehicle’s location in the event of a serious accident. It is a sophisticated set-up using the car’s navigation system and airbag sensors, and it has its own mobile phone sim card.
But almost immediately after VAG Group introduced SOS systems in its cars in 2017, buyers of VWs, Skodas and Audis started reporting intermittent problems.
Guardian research suggests that rather than the matter being resolved by the manufacturer, almost three years on, the problem has not been solved.
Frustrated owners have described having to make repeated and often fruitless trips back to dealers, costing them time and fuel, and being without their cars for sometimes weeks at a time.
In the most recent cases, some drivers have reported that their car’s satnav and in-car phone system have been rendered useless. At least one owner of an affected car has reported being told that the problems affect a significant batch of cars made during 2020.
In May last year, VW was temporarily forced to halt deliveries of its latest Golf because the eCall emergency assist function was not working reliably. In April 2020, Skoda recalled and repaired 26,000 Kamiq and Scala models after finding that the system was not working as it should.
Flora Ellison, a teacher who lives in south London, says she has been told by her dealer that he has “no idea” how to fix her Skoda Karoq sports utility vehicle, which started playing up only four days after she had picked up the brand-new £22,000 car in December.
“You can be driving along and out of nowhere the warning light will flash up telling you the SOS system has failed and telling you to take the car to the dealer,” she says. “The car’s satellite navigation system goes haywire and you can no longer hear the other person when using the hands-free phone system.”
Despite numerous visits to the dealer, she says the problem is no nearer being fixed. She says staff eventually admitted to her that this is a well-known fault, and as a result she has asked the dealer to replace her car.
“I’ve now been told that this problem has affected many vehicles within the fleet – and that they have no idea how to fix it,” she says.
Photograph: Clynt Garnham Business/Alamy
“I rely on my car to get to work as the public transport options are very limited. When I first took the car in they gave the impression that they hadn’t seen the problem before. Only when it persisted did the true picture emerge. It would appear to me that Skoda is knowingly selling cars that have this fault. I really like the car in every other respect, which makes the whole thing even more frustrating.”
Audi owners were the first to report problems back in 2017, and there has been a steady stream of complaints from VAG car buyers since, with online posts about VWs, Audis and Skodas.
“My new Q7 had the same problem less than 12 hours after collecting my car from the dealer somewhere mid-January 2017,” wrote Isn on the Audi forum in 2017. “I had to send it in for 1.5 weeks to change the coaxial and antenna. Unfortunately the problem came back after a few days and I have to send it back to the dealer again. I have the feeling that Audi have no idea what is causing the error on the emergency call.”
Skoda owners described the same experience, followed by VW Golf buyers – again often reporting that it started within days of them picking up their new car at the dealership.
A handful of VW T-Roc owners, some who had only owned their cars for two weeks, were complaining about the problem last November. It also affected Caravelle owners, and at least one owner of VW’s ID3 electric car.
Guardian Money sent links to these complaints to Skoda. It said that without knowing the details of each of the cases, or what was causing the fault in Ellison’s car, it “wouldn’t be constructive or helpful to comment or make comparisons”. It is now examining her car and has given her a replacement.
VW, the parent company, declined to comment.
One of the problems that dealers have apparently had has been diagnosing the fault. In some early cases the sim card was at fault, while a software update appears to havesolved some problems. More recently, owners have required a new replacement control unit that in some cases has taken two months to fix.
Lisa Barber of the consumer group Which? says: “These reports of manufacturing faults with some VAG models are concerning. If the manufacturer was aware of these faults, it is wholly unacceptable that it has continued to take cash from consumers without fixing the issue. It must investigate these complaints across its range of cars, and, if needed, issue a recall to ensure these faults are fixed.”
A spokeswoman for Skoda says: “We can only comment for Skoda but it is worth noting that the cars [complained about in the forums] mainly relate to vehicles which are based on different platform architecture that use different software and hardware. The experience of our customers is of utmost importance to us. Our focus now is to investigate the issues relating to the customer’s car and to ensure we resolve this case.”