We have a 2002 and a 2003 VW beetle. The 2002 has door locks that only lock part of the time. The first seven times the dealer attempted to repair it they said it was an internal malfunction or they could not reproduce the problem. On the eighth repair attempt they finally decided that our power locks are not supposed to lock all the time becaues we have crank windows!!! the first fourteen months (until they replaced the instrument cluster for another problem) the locks worked perfectly all the time. They said that the locks meet VW specs but refused to give me a copy of the specs they are referring to. VW said our owner's manual is our VW specs and it says to push the button and the doors will lock. That only happens part of the time. This is a real safety issue. Our teenaged daughter drives this car and needs to be able to lock her doors when she gets in and know that they will lock. The locks have done multiple other strange things also but the inconsistant locking is the most common problem. Our 2003 beetle has a safety issue with the rear defogger. It takes anywhere from 9 - 20 minutes to begin to clear the rear window. The dealer says that it clears in 7 minutes and that meets "VW specs" but the 2002 VW we have and the loaner beetles we have driven all clear the window in 1-3 minutes. The fact that the window doesn't begin to clear, at times, for 20 minutes is a real safety hazard. The 2003 also has lock problems. It locked itself while in our garage and would not unlock for two days. If that had been a dark parking lot it could have been a disaster.

- Maryville, TN, USA