Report: VW Grand California with elevated pollutant levels for years
VW itself had found evaporations of styrene and formaldehyde, among other things, above the limit values – but apparently did not inform customers.
Excerpt from the VW test report as it is said to be available to ZDF.
(Image: ZDF, Screenshot: heise online)
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is alleged to have knowingly accepted increased pollutant levels in the interior of its "Grand California" motorhome for years from 2019. This emerges from a report in the ZDF program "frontal", which was reported in advance by heute journal on Sunday evening. The company is said to have been aware of the problem and even before the market launch in 2017, it is said to have decided to ignore internal company guidelines on limit values.
According to the heute journal report (from minute 14:04), Volkswagen also noticed after the start of production that "guideline values for carcinogenic substances in the interior were exceeded in some cases". This is said to be the result of an internal test report available to ZDF. The values for formaldehyde, styrene and benzene are said to have exceeded the limit values several times. They were emitted from the high roof made of glass fiber reinforced plastic. According to the test report, the supplier had already been classified as "not suitable for awarding contracts" several times.
Internal audit only after Knaus pointed it out
Despite this, the unnamed company was allowed to sell the roof to Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. Apparently after complaints from customers, the vehicle received a kind of "instruction leaflet" in 2021 warning of the odors and, literally, "discomfort". The company recommended that the vehicle should always be well ventilated, even at night. According to the ZDF, the roof has only had an additional coating on the inside since 2022. The test report itself is said to have come about as a result of a tip-off from a major customer. This is said to be Knaus, which extensively converts VW campers into its own motorhomes. They are said to have carried out their own measurements of pollutants, whereupon Knaus suspended an order from VW.
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Apparently, customers were not informed about any of this. According to the opinion of the environmental lawyer Prof. Dr. Martin FĂĽhr from Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences quoted by ZDF, VW should have launched a recall. According to FĂĽhr, the company should also have offered to take back the vehicle in return for a refund of the purchase price. In the current version of the report, Volkswagen is only briefly quoted as saying that the concentration of pollutants is steadily decreasing because they are volatile. The full report will be broadcast in the program "frontal" on Tuesday at 9 pm.
(nie)
