Volkswagen drivers left exposed to £1,600 charge due to 'poor design' of car

VW owners have claimed a "poor design" left cars open to parts theft costing £1,600. Cruise control sensors were taken by thieves, forcing drivers to pay to replace them or face higher insurance premiums, motorists have told the Guardian newspaper.

Drivers are angry after discovering the car’s “poor design” that makes them so easy to steal is set to cost them £1,600 each. The sensors, which cost about £700 each, are fitted behind the VW badge, and appear to be a popular target for thieves.

“Every VW car in our area that has this sensor has been targeted and it has been the talk of the community on WhatsApp and other media, not least as the bills to fix it are so big. It seems the part itself is expensive and only VW can calibrate it to work with your car,” one driver said.

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“People face having to make expensive insurance claims which will only push up their premiums for years to come, or pay the £1,600 upfront.” A second said: “Given that it is clearly such a poor design, we feel that VW should be making a contribution – or at least doing the work at cost. If we have the work done, what’s to stop it being stolen again the next week?”

“When we searched online, it soon became clear this has been happening for years,” a third said. “There are videos showing how easy it is to steal these sensors, and yet nothing has been done. Our car is now beeping safety warnings at us and VW has told us not to drive it until it is repaired.”

A VW spokesperson said: “We are sorry to hear about the issues being faced by this group of customers and we have advised them that this is, first and foremost, a matter all victims should discuss with local police. This does appear to be a localised crime issue and we are not aware of similar incidents happening elsewhere in the country.”

“As this part is chassis-stamped, it can, once reported to us via the police, be locked so that it is inoperable on another vehicle – and as a result worthless on the black market,” the spokesperson said.