Bizarre recall mandates 2010 Volkswagen New Beetle models be replaced with… older cars?!

Government safety regulations are put in place to, you know, actually keep us safer. But sometimes, it seems the loopholes are big enough to drive a truck through. Okay, maybe not a truck, but definitely aVolkswagen New Beetle.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has determined that the certain examples of the aging Volkswagen Bug (both the coupe and convertible) manufactured in September 2010 failed to meet new Federal crash test requirements that went into effect that month. Reasonable enough, we suppose, as the regulations are there for a reason.

The fix? To replace the non-compliant vehicles with ones manufactured before September 1, 2010. In other words, the replacement cars still won’t meet the new safety regulations, but didn’t have to at the time of their manufacture because the rules had yet to come into force. Seriously.

The end result may not make occupants of the 27 affected units any safer, but at least they’ll be on the right side of the red tape. Follow the jump for the full recall notice.