Volkswagen India has issued a recall of 3,877 diesel Ventos equipped with manual gearboxes. The automaker has also announced that it is holding back sales of all manual gearbox-equipped Vento TDI models with immediate effect.

The recall is due to an inconsistency in carbon monoxide (CO) emissions found during a regular check of production cars conducted by the ARAI (Automotive Research Association of India). Known as Conformity of Production (COP) testing, this test compares emission levels found on everyday production cars with the figures attained from the same cars during validation that happens before a car is launched.    

The company, however, iterated that the recall is specific to CO emissions and is unrelated to the larger NOx emissions issue the company has been grappling with on an international stage.

COP testing is normally conducted on a handful of cars initially, with a larger batch reintroduced into the process if a specific issue is discovered. The problem, as we have been led to believe, started with the recent facelift of the Vento, which is thought to be slightly different from the earlier car.

Volkswagen has said that it is currently formulating technical measures to solve these CO emissions issues, and will submit the same to ARAI at the earliest. The automaker also mentioned that sale of the manual Vento will be resumed once these have been approved. The same measures will also be implemented in the vehicles that will be recalled.

The CO emission issues do not pertain to either the automatic (DSG)- equipped Vento or Polo, which will continue to be offered at its dealerships.

In December, the Volkswagen Group had announced a voluntary recall of 3,23,700 units of its vehicles in India equipped with diesel engines belonging to the EA 189 engine family, which was at the centre of the worldwide emissions scandal. The recall included cars from Volkswagen, Skoda and Audi.