(source: AP/SITA)
German carmaker Volkswagen started sending invitation letters to car owners in Slovakia recommending them to contact the nearest VW service centre and arrange a date. The first to visit the service centres should be owners of Volkswagens, Seats and Audis that might have been impacted by the company’s emission scandal. The owners of Škoda cars will receive the invitations later, the Pravda daily reported.
The participation in the service action remains voluntary. The free check will take one hour at the most, during which the emission rigging software will be updated.
“The customers will be contacted continuously in several phases by the end of 2016,” PR manager of Porsche Slovakia Marek Chovanec told Pravda, adding that the phases are set directly by Volkswagen based on availability of software updates for cars having the EA 189 engine.
Together 37,190 vehicles type Volkswagen, Seat and Audi with dubious software, which allows them to fulfil the emission limits, should be checked in service centres. In the phase designed for Škoda cars, a further 32,000 cars will be checked.
Car owners should take with them the invitation letter and also car service book. They can also check whether they really should go to the service centre at official websites of car producers, Pravda wrote.
The change in software should neither increase the fuel consumption nor decrease the performance of the engine.
While in Germany the visit to service centres was mandatory, in Slovakia it is based on a voluntary principle. As a result, many car owners do not plan to go as the software does not impact the operation of the engine, Pravda wrote.
