Volkswagen has a problem with their diesel engines: You. You people keep ruining them by filling them with gasoline instead of diesel fuel.


Actually, I shouldn't say you. A Jalopnik reader such as yourself knows the difference between the two fuels and is smart enough to put the correct one in your car.

But VW is having issues with less astute American customers who buy the diesel cars and then fill them with gasoline, causing all sorts of mechanical problems and destroying their warranties.


It sounds ridiculous, but Automotive News reports it's enough of a problem that VW has issued a service action to refit more than 250,000 diesel Jettas and Golfs in North America. Those cars, which were made between 2009 and 2012, will get a new misfueling guard and fuel filler neck cap to prevent the cars from being filled with gasoline.

Here's what AN reported:

Beginning with 2013 vehicles, VW redesigned its fuel fillers to accept only diesel nozzles. Gasoline nozzles are smaller than diesel nozzles. But with one of the new TDI fuel fillers, if a driver tries to insert a gasoline nozzle instead of a diesel nozzle, the fuel tank gate will remain closed. VW has been a strong proponent of diesel-fueled vehicles in the United States. But improper fueling has become an occasional source of tension between VW and its vehicle owners, online message boards show, because fueling a TDI model with gasoline voids its warranty. VW spokesman Tony Cervone said the problem stems from American consumers' unfamiliarity with diesel fuel. "It hasn't been as frequent in their lifetime to remember to fill up with diesel," Cervone said in an interview.

The problem had gotten bad enough that it prompted a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation in 2011 after the agency became inundated with complaints about the engines stalling at highway speeds. The investigation determined that the cause was fuel pump failure due to large amounts of gasoline.

Allow me to break this down for you: Drivers are so ignorant about their own cars, which they bought of their own accord, that the car company has to take further steps to prevent the drivers from ruining them.


Awesome, America. Just awesome. That sound you're hearing right now? That's all of Europe laughing at us.