VW announces recall of 26,000 2014 models with 1.8T engines

Tue, 22 Apr 2014

Volkswagen has followed up on a stop-sale order from earlier this month, announcing a voluntarily recall of 26,400 vehicles that are powered by the brand's 1.8-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder engine. The new mill replaced the despised 2.5-liter five-cylinder in the Jetta, Passat, Beetle and Beetle Convertible last year. Weirdly, though, of the 26,452 units covered in the recall, only 1,655 are customer vehicles.

According to VW, the affected models were built between February 1 and April 6 of this year, and feature bad O-ring seals in the transmission oil cooler. Apparently, the faulty O-rings could cause a fluid leak, as they won't seal between the oil cooler and transmission. VW is blaming a material change from a supplier for the problem.

There have been no fires, injuries, accidents or fatalities relating to this issue, which VW will be fixing free of charge. Customers will need to report to dealers to have the O-rings replaced.

Take a look below for the official press release from Volkswagen.

VOLKSWAGEN ISSUES VOLUNTARY RECALL

Apr 21, 2014

Herndon, VA (April 21, 2014) - Volkswagen considers the safety and satisfaction of its consumers and passengers as a top priority. As such, Volkswagen of America today notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that it will be issuing a voluntary safety recall affecting the automatic transmission oil cooler on certain 2014 model year Volkswagen vehicles with a 1.8T engine and torque-converter automatic transmission.

The recall affects 26,452 model year 2014 Volkswagen Jetta, Passat, Beetle and Beetle Convertible vehicles produced between February 1, 2014 and April 6, 2014. Of the 26,452 affected vehicles, 1,655 are customer cars. Due to a supplier material change during the production of the transmission oil cooler, the O-ring seals in affected vehicles are out of specification. If the O-rings do not completely seal between the oil cooler and transmission, a fluid leak may result.

To fix the issue, Volkswagen will replace the defective O-ring with a new one, at no cost to the customer. No fires, accidents, injuries or vehicle fires have been reported. Volkswagen will notify all owners of affected vehicles and will instruct them to arrange for an appointment with an authorized Volkswagen dealer.

About Volkswagen of America, Inc.
Founded in 1955, Volkswagen of America, Inc., an operating unit of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (VWoA) is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany. VWoA's operations in the United States include research and development, parts and vehicle processing, parts distribution centers, sales, marketing and service offices, financial service centers, and its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Volkswagen Group is one of the world's largest producers of passenger cars and Europe's largest automaker. VWoA sells the Beetle, Beetle Convertible, Eos, Golf, GTI, Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, Passat, CC, Tiguan, and Touareg vehicles through approximately 630 independent U.S. dealers.

By Brandon Turkus