Volkswagen plans to refit more than a quarter million 2009-12 diesel cars

According to an article in Automotive News, beginning May 28,2013 Volkswagen  will begin to notify its North American customers of plans to refit more than a quarter million 2009-12 diesel cars to prevent customers from mistakenly pumping gasoline into the fuel tanks.

 This will cover 209,500 cars in the United States and 51,600 cars in Canada. The affected models are the TDI version of the 2009-12 Jetta, 2009-12 Jetta Sport Wagen (called the Golf Wagen in Canada) and  the 2010-12 Golf.

Due to the increase in popularity of diesel engine passenger cars manufactures have seen an increase in the number of cases of diesels cars mistakenly fueled with gasoline. This fuel system  contamination can lead to costly repairs that are not covered under warranty.

Volkswagen redesigned its fuel fillers with the 2013 models to only accept diesel nozzles. Volkswagen will pay authorized dealers to add a misfueling guard and fuel filler neck cap to the affected 2009-12 models.  Diesel nozzles are larger than gasoline nozzles. However, with one of the new TDI fuel fillers, if a driver attempts to insert a gasoline nozzle instead of a diesel nozzle, the fuel tank gate will remain closed.