China’s Volkswagen owners organize nationwide protest

Owners of Volkswagen Jettas say thousands of drivers in 113 cities demonstrated simultaneously on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014 against the automaker. Jetta owners drove their cars to every local dealership, surrounded them and demanded to return their cars.

On Friday, Oct. 17, Volkswagen issued a recall for 563,605 vehicles because of a design flaw affecting the rear torsion crank axle, part of the car’s suspension system. The same day, the Chinese government formally issued a notice of the recall on its website. On Sunday, Oct. 26, Jetta owners demonstrated in Jiangsu, Hebei and Guangdon provinces, among others, as well as major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Tianjin. They carried banners saying, “Volkswagen has no morality” [a play on the Chinese word for Germany, “moral country”), “shameless design, stupid recall, idiotic repair, with no regard for human life, intolerable injustice.” They also thought Volkswagen’s plan to fix the problem amounted to an inadequate “patch” and wanted instead to return the cars.

Police arrested more than 30 drivers in Guangzhou. Protesting drivers in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province, were also arrested.

http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2014/10/201410271535.shtml