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Thousands of Volkswagen Group car owners affected by the 'dieselgate' scandal have reported problems with their cars following fixes.
According to law firm Harcus Sinclair, 9,500 drivers of 'dieselgate'-hit Audi, Seat, Skoda and Volkswagen vehicles responded to its survey, with 5,052 reporting problems with their cars post-repair.
The firm claimed this is the largest survey carried out on affected car owners in relation to the fix.
Harcus Sinclair claimed that over half (53%) of the 5,052 motorists with problems reported reduced fuel efficiency, 41% said their cars had less power before the fixes were introduced and a further 14% said their cars had gone into a 'limp mode' post fix.
The law firm said it surveyed drivers "following a large number of complaints about the so-called fix", while it also claimed Volkswagen is taking an "inconsistent" approach to issuing the fix, claiming that some owners have been asked to pay the full price of repairs, while others have been offered a discount and some have had the work carried out as a goodwill gesture.
Speaking in January 2016, Volkswagen UK's managing director Paul Willis said that fixing the 1.2 million UK vehicles affected by the emissions scandal would not hamper fuel consumption figures or the drivability of the cars.
"These results show that the fix intended to reduce NOx emissions may in fact have a detrimental impact on the car's performance and running costs," said Damon Parker, head of litigation at Harcus Sinclair. "A survey of our clients suggests that the fix has caused other mechanical problems, leading to greater inconvenience, anxiety over their cars' safety and additional cost to them."
Parker added that the results of the survey have been shared with the German manufacturer and the Department for Transport.
Responding to the results of the survey, Paul Morozzo, clean air campaigner at Greenpeace, claimed that people are breathing in more air pollution than necessary as a result of the scandal, which in some cases could shorten lives.
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