Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM | |||
| 11/24/2010 | 157000 | ||
| My fiancee and i purchased this beetle in november of 2010 and have had nothing but problems with it. it has been in the shop a number of time (5-7) and we have spent hundreds in trying to fix it. yet no luck. it is a danger to my fiancee and new born baby. on day it will run fine but then after driving for ten minutes the epc light come on and the brakes barely work if at all, and it wont speed up even if she has her foot to the floor. so now we have a $6000 dollar car that not even the vw dealership can fix. it sits on our road. i have seen so many complaints about people having the same problem and i believe its only a matter of time before some one gets seriously injured or even worse. please do something about this monstrosity that vw refuses to admit. | |||
| 04/06/2010 | 65000 | ||
| Tl* the contact owns a 2002 volkswagen beetle. the contact was driving approximately 45 mph when the windshield wiper failed to function. in addition, the power windows, turn signals, headlights, air conditioner and defroster would not function. the brake and engine warning lights were also illuminated and the contact stated that the failures occurred at the same time. the vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostics or repairs. the approximate failure mileage was 65,000. | |||
| 04/06/2010 | 65000 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns 2002 volkswagen beetle. while driving approximately 45 mph the windshield wiper would not function. the contact stated the windows, turn signals, headlights, air conditioner and defroster do not function either. the failure was constant. the brake light and engine light was also illuminated on the dash board. the contact stated the failures occurred at the same time. the vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostics or repairs. the approximate failure mileage was 65,000. ds | |||
| 12/10/2010 | 65000 | ||
| Seat belt/air bag light came on. took to local, qualified mechanic. they said only vw dealer could fix and reset. dealer said it was lower seat belt harness ($380), but could be more (above $800) and the service writer encouraged us to do the more expensive work. told them to do the harness and see if light would go out, which it did. light came back on around 12/10/2010 at approximately 79,000 miles. just prior to this, we purchased another vw beetle, a 2003 convertible with 69,500 miles with the seat belt/airbag light on. seller said he could not get it fixed by his mechanic and had to have vw dealer repair it for around $380, maybe more. since he made other repairs, we let it go. now we have two to fix at the mercy of the vw dealer. my concerns are several: 1. this is a recurring problem for us and for numerous others (vw beetle forum) 2. the repairs can only be completed by a high cost vw dealer and the computer reset by them only 3. the materials appear to be deficient/defective and the engineering of the harness/wiring system substandard 4. repairs need to be made in the 60-85,000 mile range - a contrived maintenance/repair item that brings windfall revenue/profit to vw dealers in the $400-1,000 range per occurrence when many of the cars are worth only $4,000-7,000. 5. since it is a basic safety item and we don't know if the airbag system works or not, we are forced to repair this problem because it makes us appear as if we are negligent when in fact this problem should not exist and be covered by the manufacturer like emission systems to well past 100-150,000 miles. in summary, vw has colluded with its dealers to create this situation and allow this repair to emerge as a way to generate revenues and profits on cars that would normally not have a reason to be brought in to a vw dealer. it is non-competitive, fraudulent and unnecessary. | |||
| 04/16/2010 | 65234 | ||
| Over the past two months, i have experienced problems shifting in between gears. the problem began on a road trip to houston, tx and was stuck on a back highway in low gear in the middle on nowhere. after bringing the car to a stop and restarting the vehicle it worked for some time but the issue progressively got worse over the last two months. i live in nacogdoches, tx where there are many hills throughout town, this past friday on my way home from school my car would not shift gears and i could not get over the hills. another car came over the hill and almost hit me as the speed limit is 55 mph in that area and my car was not even moving as i hit over 6000 rpm and i could not move forward to climb the hill. now the vehicle will not even move forward once it was brought to my driveway, no matter how many times i have restarted. | |||
| 11/07/2008 | 55000 | 1 | |
| I own a 2002 beetle. it has 55,000 miles on it. two months ago the air bag light came on and won't go off. now, the turn signals won't work. to add to this once in awhile the sun roof will open on it's own!!! the dealer said it will cost about $650 to fix. this is not the first time with electrical problems with this car. the complete lighting system went out, the security door lock system stopped, the rear brake lights quit working, both windows have stopped going up and down. a couple of times the engine won't start and three times it will just shut down while driving. this car has a mind of it's own. luckily no one has been hurt yet. some of this has been recalled and some not. *tr | |||
| 01/15/2003 | 1000 | 1 | |
| 2002 vw beetle would drain all battery power parked more than a few days. it was returned to dealer under warranty several times. owner self diagnosed problem as radio keep alive power was pulling excessive current due to internal radio fault. the radio was replaced and solved the issue. it took at least 4 visits to the dealer to get this resolved. *tr | |||
| 03/11/2008 | 42000 | 1 | |
| I own two of the vw new beetles. one is 2002 and the other is 2003. both of them have trouble with the taillight/stoplight and turn signals not working due to a defective contact design in the bulb socket. in order to fix the problem you have to take the assembly out and bend the contact to put more spring in them which puts more pressure against the bulb. this may fix the problem for a time ( 1 to 60 days) then the problem reverts. all parts are oem equipment. i have contacted vw about this and there is not a recall. i would think that turn signals and tail lights would be considered a safety issue. i know i am not the only person to have this problem. i am concerned about my families safety and don't understand why a mandatory recall has not been issued. *tr | |||
| 10/19/2006 | 76842 | 1 | 05/30/2006 |
| 2002 vw beetle 2.0 gls w/ approx. 77,000 miles. low fuel lights stays on / will not go off. the fuel gauge is working properly, the light just won't go off. we checked several web sites and contacted a couple of vw dealerships. we found out it is likely the instrument cluster and it's a fairly common problem. vw wouldn't warranty the work. *nm | |||
| 06/19/2006 | 49000 | 4 | 07/30/2001 |
| In june i took my 2002 vw beetle to the dealership because it again would not start. the vehicle has had the alternator replaced already, a battery change, and then another alternator. so three alternators since creation. i was told that another battery had failed. so now three batteries in total. i also told them that the brake lights were sticking on and burning out the bulbs, that they stayed lit so people could not tell if i was braking and that the cruise control was not working. i was told by corporate that my vin did not fall under a recall. i argued that while my vin might not have been identified it did not negate the fact that the car had the same failure and cause as those listed as part of the recall. they finally agreed to warranty the brake switch failure. i paid for the new battery. however, the car was returned to me with out working turn signals and hazard lights. the service rep failed to return my calls about it on numerous occasions. only after i contacted the mgr did they call me. they said to bring it back and they would fix it. now they want to charge me $135 because they say the switch inside the dash failed and it was not related to the electrical issues with the brake switch. funny the cruise control, etc were related. i was told the brake switch allowed electrical to be back fed into the system that was too powerful for the circuits thus burning them out. they can not explain why the turn signals would not be affected by this nor why they returned it to me broken. this car is an electrical lemon! *nm | |||
| 05/06/2004 | 1 | 10/05/2001 | |
| The vehicle warning panel light illuminate for no apparent reason. the battery died. the vehicle indicated it was overheating when it wasn't. the vehicle indicated it was out of gas when it wasn't. the vehicle has had constant electrical problems that affect the lights, door locks, seats, engine and warning lights. the consumer has stopped driving the vehicle. *ak | |||
| 03/03/2003 | 13500 | 1 | 11/23/2002 |
| 1 of the 4 ignition coils failed, the dealer refused to replace the other 3 until they fail.*jb | |||
| 10/01/2002 | 5000 | 4 | |
| Vehicle experiencing electrical problems, any electrical problem with this vehicle activates the motor protection circuit, this circuit remaps the computer to shut off the turbo, this has occurred while the vehicle is in motion which caused a hazardous situation. *ts *nlm | |||
| Vehicle has been in the shop for various electrical problems. during one situation vehicle shut down in the middle of the road with no warning. other problems were immobilizer failed again, affecting electrical system. also, front light covers were retaining water, causing a short. please describe details. *ak | |||
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM - FUSES AND CIRCUIT BREAKERS | |||
| Vehicle has been in the shop for various electrical problems. during one situation vehicle shut down in the middle of the road with no warning. other problems were immobilizer failed again, affecting electrical system. also, front light covers were retaining water, causing a short. please describe details. *ak | |||
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM - IGNITION | |||
| 07/24/2007 | 41000 | 1 | 06/18/2002 |
| Failure to start, wont read key in ignition dealer unable to fix problem as of yet. similar problems occurred last year, prior to routine maintenance when problem was mentioned, the dealer couldn't find anything wrong.... basically brushed me off. very frustrating since i greatly depend on my car for work. the car is completely inoperable! *jb | |||
| 05/15/2005 | 23000 | 2 | 06/01/2002 |
| Dt : the key will not turn in the ingition. had to wait up to 10 minutes in order to get the vehicle to start. once it started it stayed locked/parked. it was intermittently. contacted the deale, they could not duplicate the problem and could not t replace parts until they duplicate. this started on may 15, 2005. also the trunk release will not unlock from the button that used inside the vehicle. dealer could not duplicate this problem either. *ak | |||
| ELECTRICAL SYSTEM - IGNITION - SWITCH | |||
| 11/14/2004 | 3 | 05/11/2002 | |
| My car continues to get stuck in park. it's left me stranded needing assistance from strangers. its frustrating and scary to have this happen.*ak | |||