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.

The police say that by the time they paid the reactivation fee, about 30 minutes had passed since the theft, and by then, they had found the child and the vehicle by other means.

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Volkswagen says it’s very sorry

"The family was thankfully reunited, but the crime and the process failure are heartbreaking for me," said Rachael Zaluzec, VW's SVP for customer experience and brand and marketing. "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. As of June 1, we will make these connected vehicle emergency services free for five years as one significant step we can take as a commitment to our owners and their families," Zaluzec said in a statement sent to Ars.

Most MY2020 or newer VWs can use connected services, apart from MY2020 Passats. From June, owners can sign up for five years of free Car-Net Safe and Secure, which uses the vehicle's onboard modem to connect to the emergency services via the car's SOS button. In gasoline-powered VWs, there is also an anti-theft alert.

VW says it will make Car-Net Remote Access free for five years as well. This lets owners interact with their car via a mobile app and can lock and unlock the doors, honk the horn and flash the lights, and, if fitted, remote-start the vehicle.