US regulators widen probe into VW diesel vehicles
US safety regulators widened their probe of more than 97,000 Volkswagen AG diesel vehicles after receiving reports that appeared to link engine problems with a failure of the vehicles' fuel pumps.
February 12, 2011 / 11:49 IST
US safety regulators widened their probe of more than 97,000 Volkswagen AG diesel vehicles after receiving reports that appeared to link engine problems with a failure of the vehicles' fuel pumps.
Regulators and VW received 160 complaints and field reports indicating a failure of the high pressure fuel pump in these vehicles may have caused a loss of power or engine stalls in some instances.Many of these incidents happened at highway speeds in traffic with no restart and there has been one minor crash that could have been the result of pump failure, according to a filing on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website.The agency upgraded the investigation to an engineering analysis this week. The probe spans Volkswagen Jetta cars of the model year 2009 and 2010, as well as 2010 Volkswagen Golf and 2010 Audi A3 vehicles.These vehicles are equipped with TDI clean diesel engines, according to the filing.The filing included a response from VW, which attributed the problems with the fuel pump to the contamination of diesel fuel."Even a small amount of gasoline in the diesel fuel may disrupt the necessary lubrication required and may cause the HPFP (high pressure fuel pump) to fail," the automaker said in the filing.VW issued a technical service bulletin to dealers about this issue in May, including instructions to inspect diesel fuel for vehicles requiring service for pump failure.The company implemented design changes for those pumps in May 2008, September 2009 and November 2010 to counter the effects of contaminated fuel. Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
