- 2009 VW Gol
And now for something that may forever change the perception that German cars are bulletproof. Well, the engineering behind the cars are sound, but assembly of the cars by people in Brazil and Mexico have shown that recalls do not only affect Japanese brands, but Volkswagen as well.

Just a day after announcing that they have to recall 200,000 Volkswagens in Brazil, Volkswagen have had to recall another 20,000 units in Mexico. The models involved are the unique to South and Central America VW Gol and its derivatives. It involves the possibility that the rear wheel bearings could be insufficiently lubricated, causing then to make noise If the situation is not addressed, it could cause the wheel bearings to lock and can cause noise. Continuous use could lead to a blockage of the wheels and in severe cases may result in a wheel coming off.

Volkswagen Brazil had said on its website that 193,620 Novo Gol and Voyage cars were at risk of not having sufficient lubrication on its rear wheels. I would imagine that the wheel bearing supplier had failed to supply properly lubricated wheel bearings. In some ways it is a supplier that seems to be at the center of the fault. This is much like the Toyota faulty accelerator issue, where an outside contractor had supplied faulty parts causing a massive recall.

It shows that no company is safe from faulty manufacturing or faulty parts. Now even a German company that supposedly is the leader in quality. It could also show that car manufacturers are braver and more accountable these days or are just taking advantage of the situation arising from Toyota’s recalls as people may just remember the 1st company doing recalls. We would never really know how the corporate entity actually works out solutions to their problems.

Volkswagen usually has the same operating procedure globally and the same criteria for the sourcing of parts. It could be said that most basic Volkswagens do not actually come from Germany, but from plants globally. I do know that some Mk5 Golf GTIs even come from the plant in South Africa. In fact, a basic Mk6 Golf may come from the Volkswagen plant in China nowadays. And if it does, what makes you think that the quality of parts from Brazil is lower and isn’t the same as parts from the countries mentioned above?

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