The water pump has a part that goes into the engine; it's made of plastic and called an impeller. It is part of the water pump. The plastic impeller disintegrated, causing the engine to overheat. The engine light on the dashboard came on just minutes before the engine ceased up. Other than that, there was no warning that the engine was running hot. Normally when a water pump goes out, the water leaks out. In this case, the water remained in and did not circulate. Repairer has asked owner for money to replace the engine entirely. VW will not stand by its manufacturer's warranty, which the owner has. The plastic impeller is a common design defect which VW knows has a short life, but they keep designing their vws with a plastic impeller!

- Palm Springs, CA, USA

Problems with vehicle's instrument panel and radio. The instrument panel had to be replaced twice. The radio operated on it's own and the windows rolled down on their own. The consumer was unable to use the power controls to. He wrote a letter to the VW dealership and has not received any response. The car was taken and auctioned off. The consumer was trying to find a way to make sure Volkswagen be held accountable. The consumer also stated the odometer rolled up approximately 9000 miles, the dealer ran a computer check but found nothing wrong with the vehicle.

- Merritt Island, FL, USA

The consumer stated that after 2 months after the windows were repaired, everytime he turned on the vehicle, a loud beeping noise would sound and a flashing red light appeared.

- Falls Church, VA, USA

Shortly after I bought the vehicle, engine"check light came on and stayed on. Also, cd player was not operating correctly and temperature display (by rear view mirror) did not work. Took in to dealer's svc dept. Many times, but problems persited. Dealer svc. Dept. Claimed everything working fine. Recently, the window on the driver side failed and it would not go up. Took car in to dealer svc. Dept. And got repaired. Shortly after that, car died. It was not the battery, so car was towed to dealer service dept. On 8-14-02. Dealer examined car and said it was the tri-lock system and didn't know how to fix it. Tri-lock system removed by dealer but car still not working. Problem: Power windows did not work, push window button and trunk would pop open, air bag light stayed on, etc. Etc. Etc. The car has been at dealeship for over a week and dealer keeps telling me it's fixed, but when I go pick it up (3 times), the car is still doing the same thing, and the air bag light is still on all the time. Very frustrated and disappointed.

- Phoenix, AZ, USA

While driving the car I noticed the speedometer & odometer weren't working (mileage froze at 26,139). The gas gauge was not working either. Then the check engine light came on and the airbag light. Brought into dealership and was told there were 19 failures when it was tested on their computer. Dealership claims the transmission needs parts replaced. (will be covered under powertrain warranty possibly). Still waiting on parts. They said after they replace parts of transmission they will let me know what else needs to be done and how much it will cost me. The standard warranty ended March 2001. The vehicle has low mileage (26,139). The battery had to be replaced last year. Many times the car wouldn't start and had to be jumped. The check engine light came on the first year I had the car and the dealership claimed it was a sensor problem.

- Freehold, NJ, USA

After driving car for an hour the engine light came on, . dealer took car to check it out and in doing which damage the car further by denting passenger fender and bumper. Failed to tell me about this, however engine light was fixed (O2) sensor.

- Spring Mount, PA, USA