Volkswagen has confirmed it is looking into the causes of water leakage into its flagship Golf model but has played down a German magazine report that described the problem as large scale.
According to Reuters, weekly Auto Bild reported that the Golf is prone to leakage of water into the front passenger’s footwell because of wrongly installed drainage tubes linked to air conditioning technology.
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“We have come to know this issue through individual cases,” a spokesman at Volkswagen’s Wolfsburg-based headquarters told Reuters, saying the company was seeking to determine the cause.
The magazine report had said about 300,000 VW group cars could be affected, including the Audi A3 and Seat Leon.
The spokesman declined to comment on the 300,000 figure in the report. However he said no more than 46 Golfs had needed repair for the water leakage problem and had since been functioning properly.
He said the company had no knowledge that Audi and Seat models were affected.
Reuters noted that Volkswagen increasingly relies on modular platforms to lower production outlays, shorten assembly times and create more vehicles that are more tailored for specific markets at lower costs, and speculated the high levels of commonality could expose the group to potential large scale recalls such as those experienced in recent years by Toyota.
