Following an order from China's safety watchdog, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, to recall its trouble-ridden DSG gearboxes, a wave of apologies have come from VW's top staff, including VW CEO Martin Winterkorn and VW China President Jochem Heizmann. According to a report appearing in the Beijing Youth Daily today, VW Board Management Member Ulrich Hackenberg recently acknowledged the issues with the DSG transmissions, while making sure to confirm that issues with the gearboxes have been resolved.

       Dr. Hackenberg explains that all new technology is prone to issues, and that the most important thing for a manufacturer to do is to understand any problems and find their causes, with the ultimate goal being to supply a solution to eliminate them. He states that VW spent a long amount of time trying to find the root of the problem with the DQ200 gearbox, which it eventually resolved. However, soon after the manufacturer discovered there was a more profound problem with the gearbox, which it spent even more time researching before coming up with a suitable solution. Dr. Hackenberg confidently asserted that the recent recall, which has targeted over 384,000 VWs in China, will completely resolve any problems with the DSG gearboxes.

      Furthermore, Dr. Hackenberg stated that VW has spent ten years working with the DSG technology, so it is no longer very new for the manufacturer. He added that DSG gearboxes are a future trend for the automotive industry and is utilized in a variety of vehicles in the market, and as such VW has no intentions of abandoning the technology. Dr. Hackenberg's statements echo similar comments made by the manufacturer over the past few months.

      According to an official explanation, the problem with the seven-speed DSG gearboxes was due to sulfur in the gearbox's transmission fluid and iodine-based inorganic head stabilizers in its plastic components damaging its metal parts, leading to corrosion of internal electronics. This corrosion, which may be further worsened by humid climate conditions, ultimately caused some gearboxes' electronic control units to malfunction and short circuit. The manufacturer will replace the electronic components in the gearboxes of recalled vehicles, as well upgrade the gearbox's software, thereby resolving the issue.

     Chinese drivers have constantly been reporting having problems with DSG gearbox-powered VWs, Audis and Skodas. Common issues include spontaneous vibrations and noises when using the gearbox. There have also been reported incidents of the vehicles' engine not functioning properly or the drive system shutting off entirely. Last month, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) officially released the results of a year-long investigation into the issue. AQSIQ arrived at the conclusion that the transmissions were indeed defective and posed a safety risk to the vehicles' occupants, ordering VW to recall vehicles manufactured from May 2009 onwards. Despite the news surrounding the recall, the sales performances of VW's two joint ventures, FAW-VW and Shanghai VW, remained very positive, growing over 25 percent in March.