Gas Tank Woes.

[amalventano1 at tds.net (Allyn)]

> Back in the early 90's my tank started leaking and vwoa would 
> NOT cover it.
> The owner of the dealership and the service manager are both 
> friends of mine and couldn't get vwoa to budge.  Cost me 
> about $650 back then iirc.
> 
> - Jan Folkson
> NYC, NY 

This kind of crap is going to backfire on them.  I can see ignoring the tranny SMS syndrome thing, but blowing off a safety recall
on known-defective tanks is completely rediculous.  Sure they keep saying 'no, yours is not one of the defective VINs'.  When I
called VWOA in 2001, the lady on the other end admitted to me that they NO LONGER RETAINED the older vin# database, and she was
UNABLE to tell me if my car was eligible or not.  I realize the actual safety hazard itself is rather far-fetched, but some day,
some poor dubber is going to have just the right failure mode with gas dripping onto a hit heat-shield and *boom*.  Then they are
going to find out about the recall and how VW previously denied the recall (or did it incorrectly / or installed a NOS similarly
defective tank).  Then they are going to get a nice lawyer and suddenly those few dozen $600 recalls is going to look mighty cheap
to some VW accountant.  Then some sleazy news reporter is going to catch wind of the story, spin it appropriately, and suddenly our
favorite car (as well as VW's new IROC concept and anything else 'Scirocco') is going to be classed with the exploding Ford Pinto:

>From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Pinto#Safety_problems :

"Ford was allegedly aware of this design flaw but refused to pay what was characterized as the minimal expense of a redesign.
Instead, it was argued, Ford decided it would be cheaper to pay off possible lawsuits for resulting deaths. Mother Jones magazine
obtained the cost-benefit analysis Ford had used to compare the cost of an $11 repair against the cost of paying off potential law
suits. The characterization of Ford's design decision as gross disregard for human lives in favor of profits led to major lawsuits,
inconclusive criminal charges, and a costly recall of all affected Pintos. Ford lost several million dollars and gained a reputation
for manufacturing "the barbecue that seats four.""

/rant

Al