Audi will recall 16,000 cars by end of 2016 | Dieselgate

Huge recall program set to start as soon as this month, to be completed by December 2016.

Audi Australia will soon begin the long process of recalling and repairing an estimated 16,000 of its cars that have been caught up in the ongoing diesel emissions scandal that currently envelopes its parent company Volkswagen.

Managing director Andrew Doyle told CarsGuide.com.au that the recall process has been approved by federal government authorities, and that customers will be contacted as soon as next week to begin the process.

“The recall now, beginning with the first wave which is the A4, will begin imminently,” said Mr Doyle. “We believe in the next week or so.”

All 16,085 affected Aussie Audis are fitted with the VW Group’s E189 four-cylinder diesel engine in either 1.6- or 2.0-litre guise, and all of the engines are carrying factory-fitted software that has the ability to trick emissions testing procedures into recording a lower pollution reading than the vehicle actually emits while in motion.

Cars affected include the A1, previous-generation A3, A4, A5, A6, Q3, Q5 and previous-generation TT. Audi Australia has claimed from the outset of the scandal last year that the relevant lines of code were never activated in Australian-delivered cars.

Mr Doyle said that the company has worked closely with the federal Department of Infrastructure on the recall program, which will involve ‘reflashing’, or recoding, each engine’s management system, along with the fitting of a small plastic ‘flow transformer’ behind the airbox on A1s and A3s.

He also said that the remedial work will have no affect on the performance of the car.

Mr Doyle, however, is confident that the job will be completed by the end of 2016.

“We've really been careful to make sure we work with the department to make sure we have everything ticked off as each recall comes in,” said Mr Doyle, “and then we'll be able to roll them out much more aggressively.

“The best case is we're kicking off now, which is a couple months later than we'd like to have done, but now we have everything in a much better position locally for a seamless roll out over time.”

The first car to be processed will be the A4, with every model’s recall requiring departmental approval. Mr Doyle, however, is confident that the job will be completed by the end of 2016.

“The plan is throughout the course of 2016 to roll out those [recall] waves,” said Mr Doyle. “It is a bit of a dynamic position because for every wave there has to be approval … for every single model along the way. If there's back and forth on that, that takes some time.

“The course of 2016 would be absolutely our goal to have every single one of those waves rolled out. As we've always said, the cars remain safe to drive, so there's no issue there.”

None of Audi’s petrol cars, nor its later-model Euro 6-compliant diesel products, are affected by the recall, which has also affected Volkswagen and Skoda.

Mr Doyle said that he appreciated the patience of Audi owners as the details of the recall were worked through.

“We're very appreciative of their patience and support during this time,” he said. “We've done the best we can to pass on all the information, we've had our call centres open 24/7, we've provided as much information as we possibly can, so we're very, very happy that they've been so supportive.”

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