Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNKNOWN OR OTHER | |||
| 11/10/2012 | 75000 | ||
| My car was fine and it started running a lil funky so i took it to get a diagnostic test and turns out there is a recall on my air bags ! transmission and body valve ? it absolutely doesn't want to go in reverse anymore and i barley bought the car in july of 2012 and this incident happens just 5 months later. very disappointed please help i am a working nursing student that still makes payments on this car. i know my rights and i feel you can help me out please and thank you. ## vin failed ## | |||
| 12/27/2012 | 80000 | ||
| Car wouldnt excell while driving suddenly 1 mile from town suddenly traffic slowed from snow storm in town,the vehicle smell was funny black smoked slowly leaked inside the car windows up heard a misfire engine light went on blinked then i heard bloud blast like i thought it was a plow trucks miffler loudness realised ir was my vehicle stopped immediately less 1/3 mile at bank. shutt off motor m now seeing smoke slowly entered in the middle of the 2 front seatsand console. feeling hot under belly of floors. orange glow through electrical outlet in back of console appeared to be hotwith plastic casing in and under floors hot sizzling crackling under center casing/i try to call 911 misused the cell wouldnt operate effectively flagged down a man n woman at the corner light of bank they declined to help so i went to car put snow on compartment and wet it down and aired out smoke with passenger door open .iwent in bank for assistance .this vehicle was recalled for safety issues by manufacturer in the past .were said to be corrected by repairman also said seatbelt harness was a issue heated seats were a issue and airbags tranny also recalled for electrical issues and or transmission and air bags on some 2004 vw veicle beatles recalls so far occured to this vw were airbag sensors/ also the seatbelt harness cases were breaking repeartedly once purchased due to putting the seats up and bak to get in the vehicle. now this mysteriouse fire and headlamp issue.. | |||
| 09/29/2012 | |||
| The back windshield has popped away from the convertible top | |||
| 06/28/2012 | |||
| My car lurches forward when i stop. took it to the dealership and they ran it on the computer stated found nothing. mechanic said he took it out for a drive and no problems encountered while driving. when vehicle lunges forward ;i feel like i am going to be rearended by the car behind me because it is so sudden; no way to warn the car behind me. please help me and others that have posted the same problems on internet. thank-you | |||
| 06/23/2012 | 50000 | ||
| This the 3rd window regulator to fail. one door and now both rear regulators. | |||
| 12/27/2011 | 72000 | ||
| I have a 2004 volkswagon 1.8 turbo convertible beetle. the car is is jumping back and forth when it tries to shift gears. i brought it in to the local vw dealer and they told me that they would need to run diagnostics in order to see what the problem was. by looking on line we had a pretty good idea that it was the valve body or the transmision. after they ran the diagnostics they confirmed that it was the valve body. they had extended the warranty from 5 years 70,000 to 7 years 100000 miles. we where then advised that the car had missed the warranty by a few months but that we should still process diagnostics as vw normally assists when so close to warranty expiring. they know these cars have this default. the dealer contacted vw america and told me that they would not assist with the repair because i was the third owner of the car. i purchased the car in 2007 from a vw dealer and it was a certified vehicle. i am the 2nd owner. i am afraid that i will have an accident the way the car thrashes back and forward when the transmision shifts. i am also very concerned as i am pregnant. it is unaceptable that vw is unwilling to make this repair when they know that they have this problem. this was our third volkswagen. the car only has 72000 miles. | |||
| 08/12/2011 | |||
| All the windows appear to have major problems, the back right makes a horrible grinding noise and won't budge, the driver's side window makes a weird noise but moves, and the overall placement of the windows is odd and leaks air. | |||
| 08/04/2011 | 63250 | ||
| In city traffic, my vehicle has a violent jerky down-shift when approaching a stop, approximately 25mph to 20 mph. it feels like the bottom of the car is falling out. when these occurrences first happened, they were occasional. on the highway i believe it slips from one gear to another. today, a few months later the occurrences are more frequent and i am forced to seek professional care for my vehicle. i have regularly maintained my vehicle with care and attention to the maintenance requirements. my online research has indicated that this event is not an isolated event, but this occurrence describes a typical vw beetle transmission with mileage between 50k and 70k; there are hundreds if not thousands of like complaints. i have found two separate forums online supporting this very complaint. this is very low mileage for a failed transmission, especially when many similar small vehicles are offering warranties for 100k miles or more. the vw customer care has failed to respond to my inquiries. i believe my car has become unsafe to drive and i am fearful that it will break down on the freeway or a potentially dark road or in bad weather. i would ask that the nhtsa please look into these recurrent issues with volkswagen and make volkswagen accountable for the failing transmission, or, at the very least look into the valve bodies and whether they are up to standards, standards that would prevent this vehicle from failing on the highway and causing potential hazards to drivers and passengers. thank you, | |||
| 08/26/2009 | 31753 | ||
| Right rear window regulator failed, vw payed for regulator but charged $389.00 labor to fix (window up and down less then 20 times up to this point. left rear window regulator failed june 2011, labor charge $403.05 vw payed for regulator. left driver window regulator failed aug 2011. vw will not cover regulator, or labor of $375.00 to repair. vw knew these parts would fail and had issued a tech bulletin to this effect with no notice to owner! failed parts are known by vw as failure parts, cost to customer for known bad parts is extreme. | |||
| 10/01/2011 | |||
| Window regulator faulty on all windoes | |||
| 05/02/2011 | 70000 | ||
| My car is a certified used vw beetle. the transmission started slipping a few months ago, along with other parts of the car. this was after the warranty period on the car, and i know it is used, but i now come to find out that the transmission problems have been documented, in fact are blatantly on this wiki for the car (which unfortunately, either was not up when we bought the car, or i did not read it carefully) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/volkswagen_new_beetle the automatic transmission, for example, is a well-documented issue, often failing after only a relatively short period of use. there are numerous pages where this is noted now across the web: http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f124d77 http://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/vw_beetle.html some incidents noted show the danger of this situation. luckilly this has not happened to me, but now i am looking at replacing a whole transmission (along with failed door motors and such). if this is a known problem, how can vw get away with certifying this car, without at least a warning or a longer warranty on parts they know will fail. i consider this a fraud perpetrated on me. unfortunately this repair is going to cost more than the car is worth, and yet, we still owe money on it to vw for our loan. i am very frustrated here. thank you. | |||
| 08/23/2011 | 102000 | ||
| This is for a convertible beetle: the rear window rolled down while opening the top, made a grinding sound, and now will not go up either with the convertible top close button, nor with the individual window button - the window motor works, but the regulator mechanism makes a grinding sound and the window stays in open position (on-line entry system won't accept correct phone # so i list it here: correct daytime phone is 701-361-4712) | |||
| 07/20/2010 | 99999 | ||
| I have a 2004 vw beetle convertible. the driver's side window does not drop down in order to clear the canvas top. i was told this was a regulator issue. now my back passenger window is frozen in half down position. it can not be pulled up or pushed down. there have been numerous complaints regarding the window on these models. i have also had the glass in the canvas top to become detached. my insurance will not cover this as during their investigation they found that it is so common with this model of vehicle that they can deem it normal wear and tear. this is not right! my car is garage kept and should not be having these problems! i am not able to replace any parts at this time because of income. the consumer is made to pay the bill for vw's faulty manufactoring. | |||
| 11/01/2010 | 52000 | ||
| 2004 vw beetle - faulty transmission. the transmission shifts violently into 2nd and 3rd gears causing the car to jolt forward. at other times it becomes stuck in 1st gear so as you accelerate from a stop sign you are not able to increase speed enough to stay out of the way of traffic approaching from behind. a ultitude of complaints on line for same problem. vw admits transmission problems and shifting difficulty on 1998 - 2006 automatic's. they have extended the warranty for repairs, but only cover the vaulve box, which accordeing to the local vw dealer is not the problem. | |||
| 08/22/2010 | 70000 | ||
| I have a 2004 vw beetle convertible 2.0l gls and both front window regulators are broken at the same time. i pulled one of the doors apart to see what was broken and it is a plastic piece that holds the motor to the regulator. there is no reason for this part to break and especially for both sides to break about the same time. the plastic part that is needed is not sold separate, the whole window regulator assembly has to be purchased, so to fix the windows will cost a lot of money. | |||