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Following received from Vehicle Safety Branch of VOSA If this is their official response to everybody on this issue it is pathetic......... We are aware of a concern regarding the gearbox oil used in certain VAG vehicles fitted with a DSG 7 speed box. We have been in discussions with the manufacturer and they are in the midst of organising a voluntary action of replacing the gear box oil on affected vehicles. Our understanding is vehicle s adversely affected have been in Far Eastern Areas and, to date we are not aware of any vehicles being directly affected in this country. Contacting owners of affected vehicles is the manufacturers responsibility and is usually by post but this is carried out in stages to allow their agents time to allocate stock and man power resource. I am not able to say when notification will reach individuals but I'm advised that the manufacturer agents should be able to access the information on their internal systems and address affected vehicles.This is already being addressed on vehicles which are being presented for routine maintenance at a manufacturers agent (though there is no requirement to present a vehicle for service to get the action completed). To find out if your vehicle is one affected by this you will need your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) which can be found on the V5C Registration form or from the vehicle VIN plate. A manufacturer's agent should be able to tell you if your vehicle is affected or alternatively you can contact VAG customer services direct. Thank you Regards John Corcoran Vehicle Safety Branch | Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency | First Floor | Berkeley House | Croydon Street | Bristol | BS5 ODA Phone: 01179-543300 ........they completely failed to address the issue IMO and completely failed to explain why VAG are allowed to treat this as a non safety issue despite the fact that the ambient temperature would have little impact on the operating temperature of the gearbox oil.

Jrw - if you are talking about the engine oil then yes - as far as I am aware it should be 5w -30 Don't know what type of mineral oil they are using for the gearbox oil replacement Thanks for the alert to the fact that they are not providing paperwork I wonder why?

Spoke to Skoda customer services yesterday - they had a script prepared - but obviously the chap I spoke to is not a Briskoda member and had not done his homework properly If you work for Soda customer services surely the first thing you do is join Briskoda!!!!! Or at least read the threads that concern the Recall before calling customers. Anyway - left him in no doubt that IMO this should be a full Safety Recall and he said he would feed my view back to UK management

Jrw - I also had this experience with my dealer - it is only when they prepare the paperwork for the sevice that they bother checking for any outstanding workshop service schedule work - if you want to ensure that they allocate enough time for your service to get the oil change and ecu update done at the same time ( 1 and a half hours) you might need to call them beforehand. When you say 'booked in today' I assume you mean you made the booking for a few days time , or weeks time, and not yesterday.

Have emailed VOSA also

Have emailed Skoda customer services yesterday with a fairly down to earth email politely suggesting that a lot more information needs to be provided directly to owners and to the press.

Rawcpoppa - do you have info as to a service schedule for mineral oil replacement ? - Will VAG will have to change service schedules to include changes to the mineral oil if it has a shorter shelf- life than fully synthetic?( or is the shelf - life the same?) Will ask my tech this when mine gets done in 2 weeks to see what Skoda UK are saying

Rawcpoppa - thanks very much - very useful info - explains the pattern of cars needing replacement oil and those that don't And the explanation of why some need/ have mechatronic replaced and others ( mine) don't

George - my car is May 2013 - I bought it when it was on the boat so the build week at a guess was no later than April 2013 I will get the work done because, as you say, with 2 years warranty to run I can't risk not getting it done. But the question is - why on earth were Skoda still using synthetic oil in the DSG 7 as late as April 2013 when they had known about this problem for a long time? I know they claim that there have been no issues in temperate climates such as the UK but why on earth did they not play it safe and switch to mineral for global production as soon as the problem was diagnosed? Are they still using synthetic? If they have switched to mineral, when did that happen? What are the advantages of synthetic vs mineral ? Will the switch to mineral have any negative impacts? Will mineral oil have a more limited shelf - life and need regular servicing changes? Will that be reflected in more expensive servicing costs in the future? Questions that Skoda need to answer

Furbytom -I would point you to posts 27, 42 , 44 and others where if you read between the lines, the posters are arguing that VAG are avoiding the issue and an issue such as a potential loss of power should be a full safety Recall (if only to ensure that they contact all owners - including those who don't currently use the Skoda dealer network for servicing.) Yes - I was tempted to ignore the issue but only tempted - have decided to get it done if only for warranty reasons

Most posters on this thread are arguing that there SHOULD be a Recall Fully aware that there is not a Recall yet , but that is exactly the point of a lot of the posts some are worried about Skoda techs playing around with sealed DSG7 units If you don't want to worry about it that is your choice but the thread is hardly 'bizarre' In fact I am very grateful for the op so I can get the job done at the same time as my one year service

There is a cynical theory in the car industry that manufacturers actually deliberately employ recalls as a method of: A/ re-establishing contact with customers B/ enabling sales people to 'have a conversation' with the customer C/ enabling the service desk to either confirm or re-establish contact with the customer If memory serves me correctly I believe Nissan were one of the first manufacturers to admit that there is a correlation between non safety recalls and increased sales a few months down the line. Not sure this applies to all Recalls - certainly not the safety critical ones - and don't think it applies here In fact I am not sure I believe it even a little bit.........

Shark rider - I agree with you 100% - the local dealer has good techs ( but the worst sales I have ever ever experienced) I would be very nervous if I didn't trust them and can absolutely understand your reluctance - I was very tempted to just ignore the issue but as the car is going in in 2 weeks time I have decided to go for it. Peace of mind? - not sure as car (touch wood) gas been absolutely faultless and uses not a drop of oil - so don't really want the DSG touched, but when I hear stories like Big Sheep above perhaps it is best to just get it done.

Newbie 69 I think you may have got the wrong trousers

Maybe I am too trusting but when last I spoke to the Technician at my local Skoda dealer, I asked him a very tricky question to check his detailed knowledge of the Fabian VRS - he passed with flying colours. The question? How much oil does the VRS need for a service Answer - 3.6 litres This I took as a sure sign that he knew what he was talking about