According to a report presented to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Volkswagen group allegedly began investigating the issue behind its recent multi-million dollar recall as far back as October 2024. The “Handelsblatt” reported this on Saturday.
The initial concern arose when the first case of a corroded mounting screw in the steering gear was identified. Volkswagen eventually classified the defect as potentially safety-relevant in September 2026, leading them to decide on a recall.
The defect potentially affects 4.64 million vehicles across Volkswagen’s brands-including Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, and Seat-worldwide. Volkswagen has emphasized that the investigation initially involved only a small number of individual damage cases, and no personal injuries have been reported to date.
