[Vwdiesel] Age, Diesel History, and Bonus TDI Tragedy

[William J Toensing]

This has been an interesting discussion, that of VW Dealer incompetence. VW America must have forgotten what gave VW its good reputation back in the 1950s & 1960s & the huge import market share prior to the 1970s when the Japanese took it away, or maybe that VW gave to them on a silver platter. However, there must be some VW dealers with reliable service departments. Those that are should be given recognition.
The discussion about VW dealers not using VW spec oil is very interesting. I have often wondered why Amsoil makes so many varieties of synthetic oils.They make a "Synthetic 5W-40 European Motor Oil that meets VW specifications 502.00, 505.00, &505.01. How that varies from other synthetic oils, I don't know. I wonder what other oils meet these VW specs?
Lately, Toyota has been in the recall news for unintended acceleration which they blamed on floor mats but appears to be a mal-function of their "fly by wire" accelerator control. Does anyone know if VW uses the same system on their new "clean diesel" TDIs? This is one of the reasons why I prefer manual transmissions. At least if the engine runs away you can shift into neutral. Most automatics have neutral too. I wonder if you can shift a Prius into neutral if this happens? In multi-million $ airliners & other aircraft they have many expensive backup systems for the "fly by wire" controls but the only back up systems in cars that I know of is the dual master cylinder brakes. I hope the new electric power steering units that replace hydraulic power steering still have manual connections if the electrics fail. Ever have your computer freeze up? I want my car electronics in new cars to be more reliable than my computer.
Bill Toensing