VW refused to track car with kidnapped child unless police paid

3 years ago 1

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Volkswagen (VW) has made its connected car safety service free for five years after enduring heavy backlash for refusing to help track a stolen car with a young child on board unless it got paid for the service.

The incident occurred in February 2023, when a VW Atlas SUV was stolen from its 34-year-old owner’s driveway in Libertyville, Illinois.

The owner had just arrived home and taken one of her two children inside when the thieves pulled into the driveway in a BMW.

In addition to assaulting and driving over the owner, seriously injuring her, they stole the VW and sped away with her 2-year-old son still inside the car.

To try and track down the vehicle, police detectives immediately called Volkswagen Car-Net after the victim reported the crime through 911.

But Car-Net refused to provide information on the whereabouts of the stolen car until a payment of $150 (R2,788) was received to reactivate its tracking device.

By the time the police had paid the reactivation fee, another 30 minutes had passed, by which time the child was spotted and rescued by a worker at a nearby business who saw the BMW and VW drop him off in a parking lot.

The stolen VW was located at another parking lot shortly thereafter, while the BMW was found on Wednesday, 8 March 2023. The police are still searching for the suspects.

VW acknowledged there was a severe breach of its process for working with law enforcement in this particular incident.

“Volkswagen has a procedure in place with a third-party provider for Car-Net Support Services involving emergency requests from law enforcement,” the company said.

“They have executed this process successfully in previous incidents. Unfortunately, in this instance, there was a serious breach of the process.”

VW’s senior vice president for customer experience and brand and marketing, Rachael Zaluzez later described the crime and VW’s process failure as “heartbreaking”.

“Words can’t adequately express how truly sorry I am for what the family endured,” Zaluzec said

“Volkswagen must and will do better for everyone that trusts our brand and for the law enforcement officials tasked with protecting us.”

Zaluzec said VW would thoroughly investigate what went wrong and what actions could be taken to address the failure.

“As of 1 June [2023], we will make these connected vehicle emergency services free for five years as one significant step we can take as a commitment to our owners and their families,” Zaluzec said.

The service will be free to most Volkswagens with a 2020 model year or later.