Volkswagen, Porsche Recall Impacts 227K Vehicles with Airbag, Seatbelt Problems

Nearly 227,000 Volkswagen and Porsche vehicles have been recalled, due to a software defect that may cause the air bags and seatbelt pretensioners to deploy unexpectedly, increasing the risk of an accident.

The Volkswagen and Porsche recall was first announced in the German newspaper Stuttgarter-Zeitung (in German) on September 19, which indicated the action was taken due to a problem in the airbag control unit (ACU), which may cause an unexpected deployment of the airbags and seat belt problems, even when the vehicle has not been involved in a crash.

The impacted vehicles are equipped with an Airbag Control Unit (ACU) designed to control the deployment of certain crash safety features, particularly the airbags and the seatbelt pretensioners. The modules are programmed with software that detects an impact and instantly deploys the safety features.

According to the recall, the ACU may inadvertently, and without warning, deploy the airbags and seatbelt pretensioners, posing an increased risk of a crash when the vehicles are in motion. Volkswagen reports at least three such incidents to date resulted in minor injuries to drivers.

The recall affects approximately 203,390 model year 2015 Volkswagen Tiguan, Sharan and CC models. An estimated 23,500 model year 2015 and 2016 Porsche 911, Boxter, Cayman and Panamera models are also impacted by the recall.

Volkswagen and Porsche will begin notifying customers of the recall and will provide instructions on how to schedule a free repair at their local dealers, where dealers will be instructed to perform a software update to the ACU.

Customers with additional questions may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-822-8987 or Porsche customer service at 1-800-767-7243.