VW says sorry for child carjacking fiasco, makes safety service free
Enlarge / Modern VWs are equipped with an SOS button that connects to emergency services. Now it's making the service free for five years. (credit: Volkswagen)
Last month, Volkswagen garnered plenty of bad publicity when it emerged that the company's connected car service refused to help track a stolen car-with a 2-year-old child still on board-until someone paid to reactivate the service. Now, the automaker says it's very sorry this happened, and it's making its connected vehicle emergency service free to most model-year 2020-2023 Volkswagens.
The toddler-containing car-a 2021 VW Atlas-was stolen from its owner's driveway in Libertyville, Illinois, after thieves jumped out of a white BMW and assaulted her, seriously injuring her as they drove over her in their escape, according to the Lake County sheriff's office.
The police immediately contacted VW Car-Net, the connected car service, to track the stolen Atlas. But since the Atlas' Car-Net trial subscription had ended, the representative would not provide the location of the stolen vehicle until the service had been reactivated at the cost of $150.