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According to relevant media reports, Volkswagen Touareg "water inlet" incident, 48 imported Touareg owners sued Volkswagen (China) Sales Co., Ltd.(later known as Volkswagen) case, finally settled.

Chaoyang court held in the first instance that the description of product design defects in Volkswagen's announcement was unclear and inaccurate, and decided in the first instance to truthfully inform 48 vehicle owners of vehicle design defects. Mr. Lan and other three owners due to vehicle engine damage, the court discretionary judgment Volkswagen compensation for damages ranging from 630,000 yuan to 680,000 yuan, three owners returned the vehicle to Volkswagen. Another 45 owners had no actual damage to their vehicles, and the remaining claims were rejected. At the same time, the court found that Volkswagen's recall program could effectively address the risk of flooding the engine of the vehicle involved.

Beginning in June 2017, Touareg owners reported that their vehicles had engine water problems. Over time, more and more Touareg owners have realized that their vehicles have similar problems. During this period, even some owners found that they had only driven more than 100 kilometers of new cars, and 1/5 of the air filter had been soaked by water.

Many Touareg owners do not know why the vehicle has water problems. Some owners said their vehicles had not been used in wading situations at all; moreover, official website data clearly showed that Touareg wading depth could reach 580 mm.

One of the owners was surprised to find out that water actually flowed into the vehicle intake pipe through the headlight gap. That is to say, even if the vehicle is not wading, rainy days, or even car washing, it will cause the vehicle air filter to be soaked, which will lead to the phenomenon of engine water ingress.

In this regard, some experts also said that there are indeed product defects in Volkswagen imported Touareg. A media investigation found that 4S shop staff and maintenance technicians directly said that the reason why the vehicle engine will enter the water is caused by product design defects.

In response to this series of problems, Volkswagen finally issued a notice statement in September 2017. The technical solution that is willing to be given is,"Remove foreign matter from the vehicle intake duct and remove the drain valve of the intake duct to enhance the drainage function."

However, the matter was not resolved, and Volkswagen recalled the imported Touareg in March 2018. The solution is that Volkswagen (China) Sales Co., Ltd. will remove unnecessary drain valves in the intake pipe and install deflectors at the air intake to prevent excessive water from entering the intake pipe for vehicles in the scope of recall to eliminate defects. Stock vehicles will be sold after defects have been eliminated. That is to say, on the basis of the original, add a measure of "installing a deflector at the air inlet".

In the end, the masses still haven't solved the problem fundamentally. At the end of 2017, dozens of Touareg owners collectively sued Volkswagen in court. They decided to defend their rights by legal means.

According to the facts ascertained by Chaoyang Court, it can be seen that the vehicle involved is a new Touareg sedan, and the shape of the headlights has been redesigned during the modification process, but the relative position relationship between the front air intake and the headlights has not been fully considered in the design process. Defects in vehicles are product design defects.

The judgment pointed out that Volkswagen did not directly inform consumers of the defective content of the product, did not directly develop the design defects of the headlights, but started from the fact that the drain valve may be blocked due to external reasons and cannot perform its drainage function.

Based on this, the court ruled in favour of 48 owners demanding that Volkswagen truthfully inform them of vehicle quality defects. According to the judgement, the content of the notification is subject to court approval. If Volkswagen refuses to fulfill this obligation after the judgment takes effect, the court shall publish the main contents of the judgment in the national public circulation media at Volkswagen's expense.

Of the 48 owners sued, three suffered engine damage due to vehicle design defects, and three claimed damages from Volkswagen. Based on the principle of protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, the court determined that Dazhong Company compensated the plaintiff Mr. Lan 650,000 yuan as appropriate in combination with his claims. For the other two owners, the court decided that the amount of compensation awarded by Volkswagen was 680,000 yuan and 630,000 yuan respectively. At the same time, three owners are required to return the vehicle to Volkswagen.

The court held that the recall scheme had effectively addressed the risk of flooding the engine of the vehicle involved, and the remaining claims of the other 45 owners were rejected.

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