More and more VW diesel owners have been complaining to us about failing Adblue (urea) heaters in their vehicles. The heaters tend to fail after the blanket 3 year/36,000 mile warranty expires. The heater is not covered under the longer emissions warranty, and VW owners have generally been quoted replacement, parts and labor, in the $1,800.00 range. This is especially hard for owners to swallow now since most of the vehicles are covered by VW’s emissions settlement with the Federal government that will likely require VW to buy back their vehicles – eventually.
I looked into the legal issues with an eye to filing a class action, and I determined that it is legal for VW to not cover these repairs. Legal, but stupid. These are owners that VW really needs replacement business from to stay in operation in the United States. Instead, not only are these owners not going to buy Volkswagens, they are going to warn everybody they know not to buy Volkswagens.
If your VW has a failing Adblue heater, I suggest that you try to keep going until you can turn it in under the emissions buyback. According to the website covering the emissions settlement, there will be a hearing for final approval of the settlement October 18, 2016. There is an online form for registering a claim that you can do now. Unfortunately, if you don’t own one of the affected vehicles (which I don’t), not all of the information is available. Here is the website for the settlement and claims process. https://www.vwcourtsettlement.com/en.
If you can’t wait that long, if you get turned down for coverage of an Adblue heater replacement, I suggest that you get some
temporary white window paint, like this, and write with vigor on your windows slogans like:
“VW LIED, MY ADBLUE HEATER DIED”
“VW LEAVES ME BLUE”
“ASK ME ABOUT MY VW DIESEL – NO, DON’T”
“THEY CAN’T BUY BACK THIS TURKEY FAST ENOUGH”
“VW=POS”
“VW – BAD FOR THE AIR, WORSE FOR YOUR WALLET”
“VW DOESN’T STAND BEHIND ITS CARS – I WOULDN’T EITHER, WHO KNOWS WHAT’S COMING OUT OF THE TAILPIPE.”
Okay, you probably can’t fit that one on a window. You get the idea, be creative.
Send pictures of your vehicle to VW North America to:
Volkswagen Group of America
2200 Ferdinand Porsche Dr.
Herndon, VA 20171
If you send me a a picture of your decorated car and allow me to print your name and city, I’ll post it on my blog, or you can post it on your own blog or facebook page. Don’t call me though, because I don’t have anything else to tell you. If it works and you want me to share your experience with the world, send me a message. I’ll publish just your first name and last initial and city if you want, but I’ll need your full name and address.
FYI, it doesn’t appear that there is anything keeping you from posting it (for a short time) on VW’s facebook page. Give it a try. https://www.facebook.com/VW/.