The transmission shifter automatically puts the car in neutral and wont let the car move foward, its an electronic component that tells the transmission what gear the car is on.

- Kissimmee, FL, USA

The gears on the screen in my car start to flash, then I can't go over 30 mph nor can I go into reverse. I was driving on the road when it first happens.

- Cape Coral, FL, USA

While driving my way to work I parked the car and came out to go grab something to eat. The car would not move till I noticed my gears were flashing on and off (P, R, N, D, S). I couldnt get into any gears at all and so I called a tow truck. They came out and I gave them the key to try and move the car. They were able to get into gears but I told them I didnt feel safe driving it so I had them tow it home. The next day the same thing happened indefinitely. I did not want to pay the dealer 5600 bucks to fix it as other people are having the same issue. Im waiting on VW to either do a recall or some kind of research to fix this problem. I also called VW and they said they replaced the mechatronic unit for my car already. But how would it fail again already? there was no explination therefore I am waiting for a response from VW or get a letter in the mail for a total recall.

- Saint Paul, MN, USA

2007 VW Gti. Direct shift gear (dsg) failure at 43,000 miles. Transmission failure occurred while shifting into reverse. Transmission locks in either "drive" or "neutral". "park" and "reverse" are locked out of use. Car must be left in "neutral" to park and driver must utilize emergency brake since "park" is inoperative creating dangerous condition to park vehicle. Key can only be removed by disconnecting the battery due to transmission interlock. VW excluded my VIN range for repair / extended warranty coverage under other recalls or NHTSA actions regarding the dsg transmission. VW dealer estimates repair to cost $5,600. Volkswagen of America customer service does not believe this is a safety issue and will not extend warranty to cover repair cost.

- Lafayette, CO, USA

I live in ct and was visiting cousins in NJ on Saturday October 25, 2014. I take the exit of the New Jersey turnpike and stop at the first light. I start to go and then see that the car was revving but not changing gears. I see the prnds lights on the dash flash simultaneously non stop. I just barely pull off to the nearest parking lot since there was no shoulder on the 50 mph road. I stop the car and put it in park and the car did not shift out of park after that. The nearest dealer had just closed and they said to wait until Monday! I called my cousins who still lived an hour away to see if they had aaa and luckily they did. I then towed the car home over 300 miles! apparently the mechatronics unit died (the brains of the transmission) without any error codes or warning. There seem to be quite a few complaints online about these units with some failing while people are driving on the highway!! I guess I should consider myself 'lucky' that it died when it did?! VW dealer charged me over $2400 to replace it. What's even worse is that they only warrant the new part for 12 months/12,000 miles so I guess I better not take any long trips with this car.

- Wethersfield, CT, USA

I was driving as I do 5 nights a week to work. Traveling about 55mph when suddenly, my Gti equipped with a dsg transmission downshifted to what I believe was 1st gear. The revs suddenly were very high. The vehicles speed seemed to drastically lower to 20mph. I was almost hit by multiple cars behind me. Luckily I was able to leave the middle lane and get on the side of the highway safely. Once I pulled to the side of the highway, my prnds on the dash were flashing. I turned the car over and still flashing. I checked every gear and on drive I was able to make it home slowly. It seemed that the transmission only ran on 1st gear. Reverse gear is completely gone. I can't even properly parallel park my car any more. VW seems to be covering some model year dsg cars. I have read some places that 2008-2010 years are covered, and some places where February 2007 - 2010 production years are covered. Mine is a production year of January 2007. This dsg issue is well known for all years. It is knows as the "flash of death" or flashing prnds. Google dsg flash of death and there will be many links linked to this issue. I am a huge VW fan. I own a 2006 gli 6 speed manual and this 2007 Gti with dsg transmission. My father owns a 99 jetta and my brother and sister both own 2007 passats. Vwoa should know this is a huge safety issue, they should know that this is a known dsg defect for all years and cover any issues relating to it. I have done the dsg service twice. I called vwoa and they said my car has no recalls relating to the dsg. I have scanned the car and have come up with these codes, P0751= shift solenoid 1 (N88). P1746= trans. Solenoid power relay and P2723 = pressure control solenoid 5. VW how do you explain a failure to your transmission with no warnings" what if I got into an accident and someone or my self was seriously injured because of a manufacturer defect"

- Bronx, NY, USA

While taking an on-ramp onto the highway my car got stuck in 2nd gear and would not upshift. I tried switching to manual mode but that did not work either. The prnds was flashing and I had to pull over and shut the vehicle off. It worked normal after that for a few miles. I filled up at a gas station and when leaving the car went into neutral and the prnds was flashing again.

- Lone Jack, MO, USA

While driving, the vehicle (auto transmission) appeared to have gone into neutral and the gears on display began flashing. Only stopping, shifting to park, and then back into gear would allow the car to engage gears again. 2007 VW Gti w/ dsg transmission.

- Beaverton, OR, USA

After starting from a stop light, car was fine, then went in to second gear, and car jerked as if it was shifted into neutral. Continued driving and this happened again, but each time, in a different gear. The second happening was just as described above, each after driving around for about more than a hour.

- Las Vegas, NV, USA

I own a 2007 VW Gti with mechatronic dsg. I was in an intersection when the transmission slipped acting like it was in neutral but the pnrds was flashing. The car had no acceleration or RPM's. traffic was dogging me and 15 cars almost hit me due to this faulty transmission incident. I called VW of America and they informed me my car is out of warranty. Also they informed me that my year make and model has no recall or problems with the dsg transmission. VW of America said since my car is not a certified VW from their dealers it isn't covered for a recall or factory warranty. I feel completely unsafe and un satisfied how the regional manger of safety from VW of America handled this situation. She was not friendly or understanding at all.

- Atlanta, GA, USA

Experienced my Gti shifting into neutral going down the highway, no warning lights on the dash. Pressing the peddle revved the engine up. Pulled over and let the car sit for a half hour and then proceeded as normal. Has happened on every long trip over 2 hours.

- Eagle Mountain, UT, USA

When the car was cold, upon placing it into drive to depart for the day, the transmission was very indecisive about releasing the clutch and caused a severe bucking sensation and made it dangerous to enter traffic. Fortunately there is very little traffic on my street. A software update made it better, but it still was dangerous from time to time. Software update also reduced average fuel economy 2.5 mpg to which VW will not admit fault. Got a mechatronics replacement under campaign and new mechatronics is less likely to be bad when cold but new mechatronics bucks much worse and is much worse than original mechatronics when it is being bad. New software has improved fuel economy 2 mpg from the low. New mechatronics is extremely dangerous when backing out of a driveway in reverse onto a moderately busy street and then trying to pull away up a hill on the busy street. It is very likely to buck and behave unpredictably after the extremely long delay for the mechatronics to decide to go at all (hit the gas, pray and maybe wait, maybe get whiplash). It was scary and caused a vehicle to slam on brakes to avoid hitting me because my car would not go. It appears that the new mechatronic unit has broken the clutch and VW needs to replace my entire dsg with a completely brand new one with a non-defective mechatronic unit. The original mechatronics appeared to only have one flaw, the component that controlled the release of the 1, 3, and 5 clutch, which caused that clutch to wear out. The new mechatronic unit has other flaws in addition to this one and sounds as if it is breaking the entire transmission (not safety related however).

- Charlotte, NC, USA

2007 VW Gti with dsg transmission occasionally slams into a gear occasional feeling of slipping clutch noise from trans after startup, diagnosed as "noisy", but not faulty solenoid.

- Peterborough, 00, USA

I own a 2007 Gti which has what I believe and many other owners, a defective subframe of the vehicle. My incident began summer of 2007 after less than a year of ownership my vehicle started showing symptoms of clunking and snapping sounds coming from the underneath of the car in the front. I went to the dealer several times to repair it and out of all the visits of which I only got 5 receipts and 2 attempts at repairs the problem still continues. It has begun to be harder to replicate in some instances and when I did I finally decided to make a video of the issue. The service dealerships refused to use the tape as proof so I moved onto contacting vwoa of which it did not get me far. I supplied the videos and repair bills and unless I can replicate the sound at the dealer they cant help. So I finally replicated my defect at another VW service center and a service manager who is well aware of the issue, and willing to work with me and vwoa. I contacted vwoa after the visit and have yet to hear a response. What the service manager showed me was pretty much what me and the several people presume is manufactured wrong. The subframe on the vehicle seems defective. It also seems that the subframe puts some emphasis on the steering components on the vehicle which may cause potential problems even hazards if investigated further. As of right even after given repairs, my car is still having problems, snapping sounds during the vehicle turning or clunking sounds under engine loads and transmission loads. No solution has been offered to me by vwoa other than try to replicate the problem which I already have with a very willing person to help but vwoa has yet to contact me back its been over a week. Here is a link that provides many complaints from a car club with this problem (just copy and paste it in your browser) forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2721992&page=1 as you can see this has been an issue for about a good 2 years.

- Chicago, IL, USA