VW is recalling 800,000 cars. With VWoA selling less than 250,000 cars a year in the US, 800,000 is a substantial number.
VWoA is drowning in a sea of red ink. If you have lemon problems do not expect VWoA to step up to the plate. If you have lemon problems contact a lemon law lawyer immediately.

I own a 2000 Jetta.

There have been 352 stinking Technical Service Bulletins issued on this vehicle. (I pay for $$)

There have been only 4 stinking recalls and 3 warranty extensions. (They pay for $$)

Technical Service Bulletins and Recalls

My question is, “”Can anyone top 352?”" 7 years of Hell.

Read my profife for details.

This is my third VW. I had a 2001 turbo Beetle that ran well until one day the head gasket blew, out of warranty of course. $1800 later it ran well for another 30,000 before I sold it (cheap). So I decided to try another vw this time after reading so much about TDI’s I bought a fantastic condition 04 Jetta with VW sponsored extended warranty. I had it for about 5 months and it got great gas mileage and I was happy with my purchase. Then one morning I tried to merge into traffic and it would not shift (auto0 out of third gear. I had to let off the gas and then it would kick into gear hard. I took it into the shop they said the brake lite was out and it was throwing off the electronics transmission. I said “”what’ but they assurred me it was fixed. I drove it home and sure enouigh the brake lite was fixed but the same problem with the shifting. The gas mileage had dropped off drastically as well. I called the dealership reported the problem was not fixed and they were amazed that replacing the brake lite bulb did not fox it. I dropped the car off and wanted the tech to drive it. “”Oh he drove it and is aware of the problem”". They call me the very next day to inform me that the 2 year old car with 47,000 miles is going to need a new transmission. I said I assume this is under the warranty, yes sir it will be about a week to get the part here. They give me an 07 Passat to drive for my inconveneince. The dealership is 45 miles away. The “”07″” passat is a nice ride except the sunroof does not work, the plastic housing comes off the gear shift when I shift and the lite keeps coming on stating 3 tires are low in air pressure. I tell the salesmen and she says oh all that is covered under the warranty, I’m thinking thats not the point this car has 23 miles on it. Anyway the transmission is installed I drive it home and the same damn thing is still happening. I call the dealership back again and the VW tech is out sick for three days I finally get it back in and they tell me after having the car for 2 days that it needs a new fuel filter. So this time I have the dealer bring me my car hoping that this time one of their employees will experience the problem since they refuse to have a tech test drive it in my presence. The car makes it to me and everything seems fine. The next day I am running errands and all of a sudden there is this weird sound like air escaping and the car reuses to excellerate and smoke starts pouring out of the back. I call the dealership their sick tech is out again and someone will call me back on Monday. I think I have purchased a lemon does anyone know how to contact VWOA and do I have a lemon law opportunity. I want to run away as fast as I can from this car and VW unfortunately. Please forward any contact info anybody has.
Thanks

I have a 1.8 turbo 2001 beetle. The timing belt just let go at 84000 miles.
I called customer service they told me that they have had no complaints about this engine. I spoke to several mechanics who have said that they see this 1.8 engine problem about once or twice a week. I was wondering if there are more people out there with this issue.

i no longer have the manual for my ‘01 Jetta and a light has come on that i am unsure about. it is in the center and looks like a circle with two semi-circles around it. i am guessing it is a depiction of a wheel with brakes on either side. my fiancee replaced the rotors and the brake pads a little while ago, but the light did not come on immediately after that, it took a few weeks. the brakes seem to be working fine. he suggested that maybe one of the brake pads was hanging up, or that a sensor on one of the pads was faulty. any ideas? i’d hate to go messing around with the brakes if there is an easier solution. also, does anyone know if this light will prevent the car from passing inspection (we live in maryland). thanks!

So, I wrote a 2 page letter detailing all of my experiences, and the fact that I didn’t get an apology and that I was told that the brake/rotors and wheelbearings were inspected but that I was pretty sure they weren’t, etc… Also, I guess when they towed my car into the dealership, the battery was completely dead. I sent this letter to the owner and the service manager at the dealership, as well as VWOA, and to car talk. Here’s the response I just got:

“”I have spoken to the technical engineer and learned that there is a very small but real possibility that some vehicles with a certain brake booster can exhibit your vehicles exact symptoms. When the switch is installed it can allow the booster push rod to come out of position. If this occurs it extends the length of the rod just enough to lightly apply the brakes after a short period of driving has occurred. When the last brake switch was installed it could have pushed the brake booster push rod back into proper position. However, the engineer feels that to eliminate this from happening in the future the brake booster should be replaced. Our Volkswagen Representative agrees and would like your brake booster replaced at no charge to you. I have already arraigned to have a brake booster held aside for you in our parts department.

Although we are very busy I feel it would be best to accommodate your schedule and perform this repair at your earliest convenience. Please contact me personally via email or call my office @ 503-372-3165 so I can set up a time that is best for you.

Now that I have that out of the way I would like to apologize for your inconvenience, loss of time and our apparent lack of attention for what must have been a very troubling experience. The technician that performed all the repairs and inspection is our best technicians for quality and has a near zero repeat repair rate. He has been with us for several years and has replaced an average of roughly five switches a day over the last couple months. I am telling you these things about this gentleman for one reason; I want you to feel very comfortable driving your car knowing that all the workmanship was of first rate quality.

While your vehicle is here having the brake booster replaced I would like to offer re-inspecting your brakes, rotors and wheel hub and bearing assemblies to put you mind at rest. The wheel bearing as per the technical engineer could not be damaged by over heated brakes because they are designed to withstand temperatures well in excess of what brakes are capable of producing. The hubs and bearing need not be disassembled because if there was any damage the grease would have to be forced out past the seals and would be evident outside the hub.

Rather than just offer a simple but sincere apology for your inconvenienced I would like to offer you a more substantial apology in the form of a free tire rotation and exterior car wash.

Thank you for letting us know how you feel and allowing us the opportunity to possibly regain your trust and future business.”"

So, I’m a little bit unsure as to what happened. VWOA was told by the dealership that these were faulty switches, and I was told by the mechanic that they were installed incorrectly. Now there is a whole ‘nother twist to this situation: The Big Bad Booster!! What to do? What to do?
Well, I just wrote him back and told him how nice this whole thing was and that I would love a new brake booster (ohhh…I hope I’m making the right decision here. gotta have some really big faith to go back to this place for another brake-related replacement. needless to say, i will not be bringing my child if i can help it.)
Anyway, I figured that you are all super awesome and it would be a good idea to post this letter for opinions, as well as to swallow this whole experience and say that…hey, the dealer and VWOA are really trying here and I appreciate that, and lastly…what if someone else has this problem? Probably good to know about.
As far as the battery? Well, that one is still a big mystery.

Edited by groebner on 02/08/07 at 7:51 PM

Recently in cold weather my 2001 Jetta wouldn’t start. I left it at home while it got warmer since I don’t have another car to jump it with. Later that day it started pretty well, but the clock was wrong and now the panel that displays whether the car is in park, drive, etc. keeps blinking on and off. The car is driving fine as usual but the display continues to blink. Any ideas?

I have a 2002 Volkwagen Beetle TDI 1.9L.
I purchased this car used 1.5 months ago. We had a fantastic mechanic look at it before we bought it, and he determined that the car was in excellent shape. The dealer had the car for a couple of months before selling it, and it had no problems other than that the CO2 sensor needed replacing. We did that 2 weeks ago, at which time another mechanic looked at the car and said it was in wonderful condition.
The past owner saved the recall notices for the brake light switch, so I scheduled an appointment at Herzog-Meier today to get the switch replaced.
I got to the dealer (with my 18 month old son in tow) and they told me it would take a 1/2 hour to replace the switch. It did. Then I got in the car and drove it away.
As I was driving up the road, I noticed that the brake pedal had something unusual about it. At first, I got really scared and started to think that my brakes weren’t working at all. The brake pedal felt a little bit tight, and when I would press it slightly, nothing would happen. However, when I applied a significant amount of pressure to the brake pedal, my car stopped abruptly. Something was really wrong.
So, I started driving again and at about 25mph I shifted into 3rd gear. My car started lugging badly and then I reached a slight incline in the road. All of a sudden my car started decelerating. I pressed the gas pedal, but nothing happened. I shifted back into 2nd gear and the engine revved up and began accelerating again.
Obviously something was wrong, and I felt positive that it had everything to do with the service that I had just recieved on my car. I turned around to drive it back to the dealer, but I had to keep my car in 2nd gear, as none of the other gears were working. After a few minutes, smoke started wafting out of the left-front side of the car. I was really unsure as to what was going on and didn’t know if I should keep driving. It felt as if the emergency brake was on, but it wasn’t. It smelled like burning rubber. I was really scared to have my baby in the car with me.
All of a sudden, about 3 blocks away from the dealer, there was a loud “”POP!”" and my car lurched forward uncontrollably. Immediately afterward, I felt some sort of ‘release’ in the brake pedal. I pulled the car over. Even though smoke was still coming out of my car, it seemed like no more was being produced and so I merged back in with traffic. The brake pedal felt like it was back to normal, so I tried to shift the car into 3rd gear. It worked. Everything seemed fine. Even so, I pulled into the dealer and told them what happened.
The mechanic told me that it could be that the new brake light switch was faulty, or that it had been installed incorrectly. He said that the smoke was definitely not from my clutch and so he could only assume that it was from the brakes. We both agreed that this must have to do with the service I had on the car, since there were no problems before I had the brake light switch “”repaired.”"
The mechanic installed a new brake light switch and drove the car in a small circle, telling me that everything looked fine. I then got in the car and began my 20 mile drive home. I drove a couple of miles until I got to the freeway and once I merged in, I cautiously put the car into 5th gear. Everything seemed very fine.
After a few miles, I got off the freeway and began driving through downtown. I made it to within 3 miles of my house before more problems started. At this time, I would downshift, and as soon as I had the clutch pressed down and took the car out of gear, my car would lurch forward as if I were pressing on the brakes really hard. As soon as the car went back into gear, it would begin moving forward again…but it seemed stalled. Once again, it felt as if the parking brake were on. I tried putting my car in neutral and coasting to a stoplight. My car would not coast. It would stop as soon as I took it out of gear.
I still kept heading for home, and within a mile of my house the same problem started to happen with 3rd gear. My car would start lugging at 20 miles an hour in 3rd, and then at 30 mph in 3rd. I tried shifting into 4th gear to check that it wasn’t the gears, and 4th did the same thing. I had to finish my drive home in 2nd gear and when I made the turn to my house, the car stalled out. So, I barely got it parked in front of the house.
I called the dealership and they are sending a tow truck to get my car tomorrow so they can check it out. I called Volkswagen and reported what happened so that I could try and figure out if it was a problem at the dealer or a problem with the switch. The woman I spoke to on the phone said that she couldn’t get me any information but that they would call the dealer tomorrow and then call me back.
I am very upset and saddened that I took my car in for a simple procedure that resulted in this. I feel like my son, and myself were put in a really dangerous situation…far more dangerous than if the brake lights had quit working. My car was stalling out and refused to coast on streets posted at 50mph.