I'd forgotten a bit about this, but have been hearing again about the "EA189 service action", here in France.

 

Googling user feedback about the fix I'm getting the impression that I shouldn't regret that I haven't yet received any formal incitation to go get my car treated.

 

How likely is it that those negative experiences are indeed due exclusively to the recall and not to some combination of other things that the affected owners had done to their cars? Curiously it seems that most if not all affected owners are UK-based, is the fix somehow country-dependent?

Another thought: does the recall make it possible to rev the engine to higher rates when the car is stationary? Until now it doesn't reach the revs required for emissions testing, which makes it impossible to verify if the car meets the homologation levels or not. As long as that trick remains the testing centres shouldn't be able to detect (easily) if my car had its recall applied or not...

I have the same engine and it looks like it is exempt from the emissions test at the MOT. Perhaps an MOT tester on here would like to comment.

 

On the question of to fix or not to fix, take a look at the following long thread:-

 

https://www.hypermiler.co.uk/dieselgate/the-volkswagon-group-is-systematically-refunding-owners-for-egr-failures-after-the-emissions-fix

Edited 8 October, 20178 yr by pikpilot

It would be interesting to know why the engine is exempt from MOT testing. Criteria vary from country to country, but probably less so if they're based on technological/mechanical limitations.

 

Let's be clear: the choice would be simple if it weren't for the legal ramifications. It appears that VW force customers to sign a waiver when they refuse to have the fix applied, and take full responsibility in case the car is ever taken off the road for non-conformance reasons.

As far as I know, a diesel only needs to pass a 'smoke test' at the moment in the UK MOT.

 

Unlike a petrol which will have the carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon count measured, it's just down to the density of the smoke