Sorry to sort of hijack the thread, it's all related to the OPs initial post.
I've spoken to DVSA who are still investigating. I think the the central discussion will be based on why the original recall was done and if ABS constitutes as an intended function of the car in which the car cannot operate without. The original recall was done because there was no prior warning before failure, the software update was simply to alert to an impending failure!
In other words, VW did not fix the problem and worked around DVSA and NHTSA guidelines, they simply put a kill switch on the abs module before it completely fails by simply raising the threshold in which the control unit is deemed to have a bad connection at the ground pin. By alerting the user with a dash light, that apparently satisfies DVSA’s guidelines?! (more on this below). At least in America, there is a lifelong warranty with the failure according to a forbes article and again this shows how VW treat the UK customer base and this is why NHTSA accepted VW’s response to the recall.
The DVSA is an organisation that is cantered on safety, they have sanctioned the manufacturer to bodge the recall and return defective units knowing they were going to fail which is frankly appalling and outrageous and undermines the whole concept of safety recalls, the DVSA’ policy of ‘this won’t kill therefore it is okay’ needs reviewing. There are further issues such as purposeful decrease on the lifespan of the ABS unit (they have to detect the failure early). Imagine if a steering rack was about to fail and the manufacturers response is to update the software to provide a dash light?! Or as a fix for the airbag not working, a software update simply lights up the dashboard!? A safety recall should return the unit to safe operating parameters, not left in a partial working state that is still dangerous. The whole system seems to just provide legal cover for the manufacturer.
I’m considering requesting a freedom of information request to see how many abs units VW have replaced as part of the original recall and as a goodwill gesture, the second hints to their acknowledgement of the problem although would be hard to prove legally.
It is worrying how this may become a precedent, with cars becoming connected , at any time once the manufacturer is aware of impending or common failures, they can simply just light up the dash and disable certain features, this would mean they would not have any safety recall work to perform and have satisfied the DVSA guidelines!
VW simply have responded to me and have said that software fixes only carry a ~6 months warranty and I am outside the warranty period and have consistently insisted that any problem would of shown up immediately. This is blatantly not true. They are really just dishonest sales men it seems, every conversation I have seems to just blame another party or say something completely different!
The best solution is to make a complain to DVSA and maybe get in touch with the papers. As for our cars, ECU testing fix repair the unit for circa ~250 including VAT. Or find the updated part from the brakers.