VW Starts Offering Free Emergency Services After Chicago Incident

Volkswagen of America has announced that it will be providing its Car-Net Safe & Secure connected vehicle emergency services for free to existing and future customers, for five years. It will be available for most 2020 and newer Volkswagen models, effective June 1, 2023. All owners need to do is create a myVW account and accept the Terms of Service. The coverage will remain active for five years after the sale date or June 1, whichever is later.

Gas-powered vehicles equipped with Car-Net hardware will receive automatic crash notifications, Emergency assistance, stolen vehicle locator, and anti-theft alerts, while ID.4 EV models will receive automatic crash notifications and emergency assistance.

This move comes after a recent carjacking incident in the Chicago area. The incident involved a child in a stolen Volkswagen Atlas. According to the release, the police's vehicle tracking was delayed because of a process failure that involved a request for a subscription payment prior to obtaining vehicle locator information.

"The family was thankfully reunited, but the crime and the process failure are heartbreaking for me," said Rachael Zaluzec, SVP, Customer Experience & Brand Marketing for Volkswagen of America, Inc. "As a mom and an aunt, I can imagine how painful this incident must have been. Words can’t adequately express how truly sorry I am for what the family endured."

"Volkswagen must and will do better for everyone that trusts our brand and for the law enforcement officials tasked with protecting us. In addition to a full investigation of what went wrong and actions taken to address the failure, we want to make it right for the future. Today, we are setting a new standard for customer peace of mind," Zaluzec added.

Volkswagen's Car-Net Safe & Secure service allows owners to access emergency assistance through the SOS button in the vehicle. It can also put the driver in contact with the Car-Net service center, which can direct emergency responders to the vehicle's location and notify the user's emergency contacts. Additionally, the automatic crash notification can help automatically notify an operator who can quickly contact first responders in the event of a collision.