After following the manufacturer's suggested warranty checkups to the "T", and having just completed the 20,000-mile warranty at a cost of $299.99, my brakes failed in a pretty spectacular way. I drove away from the dealer's after the warranty checkup with slight-squeaky brakes. The brakes had not been squeaking before I took the vehicle in for service.

The problem quickly escalated until--not three weeks after the very expensive "maintenance"--the brakes were grinding and emitting the most god-awful noise. I returned to the dealer and was told that the brakes and rotors had failed. At 22,0000 miles?? Are you kidding me? What did you guys do during that 20,000-mile maintenance visit? So, they wanted another $450 from me because that $299.00 just wasn't enough. And they obviously failed to detect what must have already been a problem with the brakes.

I took my vehicle in for a state inspection to a more trusted mechanic in my hometown rather than back to the VW dealer, who had proven on more than one occasion to be incompetent and just after more money. I had even suspected sabotage on their part. I was rather surprised to find out that my vehicle needed brakes AGAIN. This would be the second time the brakes (and rotors) needed to be replaced in a 4-year period. I had 40,000 miles on the car.

Research on the internet turned up various complaints from 2008 VW Jetta owners about there being a design flaw in that model year that caused the frequent brake failures. But do you think VW cares? HA!

Rear brake failure on my VW Jetta. The car dealer where I bought my car is 150 miles from my home town. The car has less than 25,000 miles on it and the rear brakes were gone, the rear right pads had more wear on them than the rear left. The front brakes have about 90% life on them. I called the dealer where I purchased my car and I had to pay to replace the brakes. Normally the front brakes are the ones that need replacement before the rear ones, but the front ones have very little wear on them. I called the dealer and inquired about my concern and the only way to fix this problem was to take the car and have the rear brakes replaced at my cost.

The drivers side rear brake is completely gone, rotor has a 1/8 inch groove cut into it. This failure came with no warning, and the dealership wants $500 dollars. At 20,000 miles, this is damn ridiculous, especially considering that I drive a manual transmission and use the engine for 50% of my braking. I checked all the other brake pads, fronts are even at 90% and passenger rear side is still around 30-40%. This is clearly a friggin defect.

They told me this is "normal wear and tear", I stormed out of there and swore out loud I will never deal with VW again. I am trying to get an answer from corporate, worst case scenario, I will replace one brake and rotor.....my lease is up in a year, whatever goes wrong with it after this is their F* problem! Terrible business plan, squeeze a few bucks out of each customer, but lose hundreds or even thousands of future sales. VW is going downhill, which is dangerous, considering that their brakes don't work.

Rear brake pads have no squeakers nor electronic wear sensors. Additionally, the rear brakes are used in the Electronic Stability Program, and are worn asymmetrically as a result. I noticed a grinding sound coming from the rear driver's side brake under braking. I took the wheel off, found there to be little to no brake pad left, and replaced the pads. A while later I decided to replace the passenger side pads too (it was late and I can be lazy), but once I had dismantled the brakes, found that they weren't needing replacement!

Volkswagen is completely ripping me off and ripping off apparently thousands of other VW Jetta owners since 2005 with thier faulty rear brakes, rotors, and struts. Customer CARE considered this "most likely consequential damage due to a manufacture error in the rear struts" which are also completely blown to the point that they are leaking hydraulic fluid by the way. After spending 2 days, missing 2 days of work, driving 3 hours+ here and there to get completely different information everywhere I went, and hours on the phone I'm out $60.00 and still need my brakes fixed. I spent approximately $3.00 per minute this morning for someone to be completely useless even though I should not have endured this costs when I was told by Volkswagen to come in because this was most likely a related issue and should be warranty suitable. This is a stock Jetta. It is automatic. How dare they say my "abnormal wear" on my brake pads and rotors is due to driver average wear and tear! This is an awful way to treat thier customers. I no longer have faith in VW and I feel manipulated, lied to, mistreated, and cannot believe the situation I am in. I do not have the money to take on such a costly problem. I have even read posts from people who have had this same issue every 6-15,000 miles. If this has been happening since 2005 why has there not been a recall on the brake system? I could go on forever about this situation and the last 48 hours I've spent with VW but I'm sure if you're reading this, you are having a similar problem, and are in turn completely aware of my situation.