Headlight went out while starting the car. Dealer found a burned wiring harness to be the cause. Cost to repair $ $159.31. This could have been a major problem if both head lights would have gone out while traveling on a dark hwy at high speed. Burned wiring harness is in my possession. Second problem was with a brake light that went out date 10/30/07. Cause as per dealer was a faulty light socket. Cost to repair $ $73.61.

- Gilroy, CA, USA

From Sept 03 through April 04, I had 5 right rear brake lights replaced and 2 left headlights replaced on my 2003 VW New beetle. No reason was ever given as to why they kept failing. The dealership just kept replacing them. My son was stopped by the state patrol once because a rear light was out - I had total strangers tell me that the lights were out and my neighbors and I are keeping track of how many VW New beetles have at least one light out  I count at least 4 each week. I want all VW New beetle owners to know that this is a malfunction of their car and it is a safety issue and the dealer must repair it for free  VW is not consistent with recording their recalls on the internet, so I did not know that this was a problem. I finally got sick and tired of this problem and took my car back to the dealer I purchased it from. The dealer finally acknowledged the problem by giving me a new car; however I am now having problems with the driver window going back down on its own. Refer to #ODI 10074541 and #10074539. (I recorded the last incident as the incident date)

- Lake Stevens, WA, USA