I am will reinecke and will be submitting this complaint on behalf of Ms. Rossi. We have a 2001 Volkswagen Beetle with 15500 miles on it [the vehicle had 1220 miles on it when we bought it]. we noticed a noise coming from the rear of the car that became increasingly worse. In as much as the car was out of warranty [12 months or 12000 miles], a friend and myself searched for the source of the noise that seemed to be coming from both sides, rear of the vehicle. We found the cause to be the rear shock absorber mountings. Inside these mountings is a fiber or neophrene gasket/grommet that was almost completely disindegraded in both mountings. When we removed each shock we discovered an orange dust/crumb like substance on the shaft. Further investigation led us to what was left of these gaskets embodied within the mountings. I have the remains of these gaskets along with the crumb like residue in my possession and will gladly send it to you should you so desire. I contacted the Volkswagen dealer as well as their customer care center and received no help at all with this problem. I feel as though it is an engineering flaw that something like this could occur on a vehicle with only 15500 miles on it that is mainly driven within a retirement community by a senior citizen.

- Lady Lake, FL, USA