I closed my trunk one day and now it will not open with fob or inside door latch or the key.

- Marietta, GA, USA

The contact owns a 2003 Volkswagen Jetta. The contact stated that a was smell entered the interior of the vehicle for an extended period of time. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the cabin filter was replaced but the failure continued. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 30,000. Updated 10/19/16

- North Bellmore, NY, USA

Seat caught on fire from shorted seat heater and burned a hole through passanger seat cover.

- Washington, DC, USA

The contact owns a 2003 Volkswagen Jetta. The contact stated that there was an abnormal odor in the vehicle which made the contact nauseous. She was unable to determine where the odor was emitting from. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer but the contact was advised that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. The manufacturer was contacted but offered no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 300 and the current mileage was 74,718.

- Safety Harbor, FL, USA

Brake light switch failed and my car is stuck in park because it's impossible to shift when the brake light switch is faulty. This part has been recalled (N4), but I am forced to pay for a tow truck to get me to a dealer 20 miles away because the car is inoperable right now. Warranty is over but if it's a recall and the part in question is causing me to be stuck, why should I be the one paying for the tow?

- Norwalk, CT, USA

Continuous leaking of water into interior of car from currently undetermined source(s) causing mold/mildew problems. Occurs during/after rain events.

- Rockledge, FL, USA

To whom it may concern: My name is [xxx]. I own a 2003 Volkswagen Jetta tdi that I purchased new on 3/10/03 from autohaus of lancaster in lancaster, pa. It now has 56,700 miles on it. (mostly highway) while driving on 6/21/05, I went to apply the brakes and the brakes got mushy and then grabbed and the pedal went to the floor in a sudden stop. As it was stopping you heard a sound like the vehicle now had air brakes. I depressed the pedal again the brakes let up. I was nearly rear ended by a truck the first time it happened. I pulled off the road and called the garage. It turned out to be a brake booster. Prior to this problem, while the vehicle was still under warranty at 48,000 miles, I had the vehicle in for service at the dealership where the vehicle was purchased. It was in because several times I applied the brakes in the snow and the tires locked up. This vehicle has anti-lock brakes. At this time the anti-lock brakes did not work. This happened several times. The dealership found no problems. They checked it and said all was ok. It happened again about a week after I got it out of the shop. My current mechanic (roberts automotive) who specializes in Volkswagen mentioned that he believes that two problems are very likely the same problem. The mechanic ([xxx] @ roberts automotive) also told me that he called the local dealership (autohaus of lancaster, pa) for the part, and he was told they replaced 8 of these brake boosters in the last two years. I also talked to the service manager at autohaus. Dave told me they have had several brake boosters go bad on the tdi models. The vehicle is now in the hands of autohaus. It sounds to me like there is a problem with quality and workmanship here. This is a definite safety issue. By sheer luck I was not hit by that truck. I will be sending a similar letter to Volkswagen of America with my complaint. Thank you for your cooperation. Regards, [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Willow Street, PA, USA

I bought my car at the end of November. Drove it off the lot with 9 miles on the vehicle. At the time of breakdown on July 25, 2003, the car had 10,900 miles on it. The current mileage on it now is 13,000 July 25th was a very hot day. I believe it was up to 110 degrees that day. I had noticed my car running at a substantial lower power than usual, but I assumed it was because of the heat and that I had my air conditioning on high. I had to do some errands in town then I headed home, which is about 30 minutes away from the tri-cities, at this time I did notice loss of power going up the on-ramp to the interstate, but still did not think too much of the fact. I was half way home when I noticed that my car was losing even more power, the cruise quit and my speedometer went from 75 to 50 mph and that is when I noticed that my heat gauge was extremely high. I also found it odd that the inside of my car had not cooled off, but was getting warmer. I headed towards the off-ramp and as I was down shifting and applying the breaks, my brake pedal made ;puffy-popping noise and then the brake pedal collapsed to the floor. I put the vehicle in neutral and pumped the brakes to get the vehicle to stop, when the vehicle stopped, I smelled heat, or like something burning. I thought it was a fire around town. Pulling away from the off-ramp, I could not get any pickup speed with my car. The car felt like it was pushing to go forward and also pulling itself back at the same time, as the vehicle tried to pick up speed, it would pull back and forth. The gas pedal was all the way to the floor and I couldn't get any speed. I could only shift into second gear and the vehicle could only maintain 15 mph. As all of this was happening, I was turning off everything I thought took power, air conditioner was the first thing off when I started noticing the car overheating and losing power, then the radio, these did not help.

- Kennewick, WA, USA

Vehicle experienced hesitation, keyless key battery does not work, epc light illuminated due to lost of power, jack fell while car was on it, and problems shifting the car out of park. When the epc light illuminated for the second time, the dealer replaced the engine control module. The vehicle experienced two flat due to the tires being overinflated.

- Wilmington, DE, USA