since 2009 there have been widespread concerns from chinese consumers particularly among the online community, who expressed that volkswagen has failed to respond to complaints about defects in its dsg-equipped vehicles. typical issues associated with 6-speed dsg include abnormal noise and inability to change gear; while issues associated with 7-speed dsg include abnormal noise, excessive shift shock, abnormal increase in engine rpm, flashing gear indicator on the dashboard as well as inability to shift to even-numbered gears. in march 2012 china's quality watchdog the general administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine (aqsiq) said that it had been in contact with volkswagen (china) and urged the carmaker to probe the issues. in a survey held by gasgoo.com (china) of 2,937 industry experts and insiders, 83% of respondents believed that the carmaker should consider a full vehicle recall. in march 2012 volkswagen group china admitted that there could be an issue in its seven-speed dsg gearboxes that may affect approximately 500,000 vehicles from its various subsidiaries in china. a software upgrade has since been offered for the affected vehicles in an attempt to repair the problem.