This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Yesteday, the engine shut down after I got off freeway at offramp. As I came to a stop at the traffic light and engine stopped. Had a flashing "glow plug" icon on dash for less than a minute and little no acceleration before exiting freeway. Would not restart. Had to have car towed 50 miles to home. Today I find a dtc of P0087, fuel pressure too low. I unscrewed the screws holding the fuel filter assy top cover. Lifting the cover, I saw metal particles on top of the fuel filter. This always means the hi-pressure fuel pump has failed - forcing metal particles to the fuel tank, hi pressure fuel rail, fuel injectors, fuel filter and fuel lines.
The high pressure fuel pump of the tdi diesel version of this car is easily compromised under regular use and sends the car into a disabled mode while driving. It is dangerous and very unclear what is happening.
Engine light came on, I had my mechanic do a 120,000 mile service and diagnose the dash engine light and the intake manifold was replaced. When I picked the car up I smelled diesel. I drove it 13 miles, when I got home I smelled diesel again. I opened the hood and there was diesel all over the left engine side. There was a wet, split fuel line, leaking fluid in the parking lot, a blue plastic set small rings (like the olympic symbol) sat near the split hose. It could have caused a fire, and other cars to be in danger from slick road, among other things.
This problem is caused by fuel pump failure in VW diesel engines. It happens in two ways. Fuel pump fails sending metal shards throughout the fuel system or fuel pump provides inadequate pressure and car enters 'limp mode'. in the first case the car stops running and entire fuel delivery system must be replaced. The second case happens under load (passing, entering freeway or climbing incline). 'limp mode' means loss of power. The car must be pulled over, ignition turned off and then back on to clear error code. This is very dangerous when freeway driving. I've had both cases of failure. VW has opted not to recall but rather deal case by case. My last failure was with a pump with only 2000 miles on it. Bosch makes the pumps. After a few pump replacements, VW refuses to pay. After the last replacement I was told that it would take an 'act of god' to break the new version of pump. So I guess god broke it. There is much documentation online for 'limp mode'. a good source for documenting the problem is www.tdiclub.com (search limp mode). I don't know if a recall will fix the problem since the pumps will continue to fail. I do believe that VW should replace the pumps at their own expense in perpetuity. I also believe that Bosch should be held accountable for providing substandard pumps.
The contact owns a 2009 Volkswagen Jetta. While driving 60-70 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was towed to a dealer who diagnosed that the high pressure fuel pump failed. The dealer stated that there was no permanent remedy for the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 130,000.
- Vista, CA, USA
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Upon pulling out of a driveway, vehicle showed flashing "glow plug" indicator and loss of power (limp home mode). Pulled over, turned off vehicle and restarted, indicator cleared and vehicle drove normally. On subsequent trip later in the day, same symptoms appeared. Again, cleared by stop and restart of vehicle. Flashing glow plug indicator returned almost immediately, this time with solid "check engine" indicator as well. Drove to dealership service department where they found metal fragments in the fuel system and likely high pressure fuel pump failure. Currently awaiting results of fuel test to verify failure was not caused by misfueling with gasoline.
Engine stalled when driving and would not restart. Metal fragments were found in the entire fuel system damaging all components.complete fuel system replacement is only alternative per Volkswagen of America. Contacted Volkswagen customer assistance and was told assistance is not an option due to a federal mandate limiting time and mileage to 10 years or 120000 miles. Also stated Volkswagen would have been able to repair at their discretion if not for the federal government regulations"? this is a very common failure that local dealer states occurs locally 4-5 times a week in this area. The average repair cost is over $6000 dollars. I have been told the NHTSA had investigated this situation and closed the probe. If dealer records were investigated thoroughly, they would have found a tremendous number of like failures that cannot all be attributed to improper fueling or tainted product. 4-5 times a week since 2009?" absurd and unacceptable.
The glow plug light began flashing and the check engine light was on (had been on for the entire duration of my ownership of 1 year for the car). We were on the highway and the car steadily lost power in the span of a quarter mile. We pulled off the side of the road. The engine would crank but not start. The mechanic the next day found metal shavings in the fuel system and suspects a high pressure fuel pump failure. The recommendation was to replace both fuel pumps and fuel lines. We have never misfueled the car - we have only used diesel fuel at top stations like shell and bp.
Stopped and left the line at a green light when our 2009 Jetta tdi sputtered and stopped in the middle of a busy intersection. Was able to get the vehicle towed to a local VW dealership and given an invoice for $5500 for the high pressure pump, which is identified a known issue by VW under a self-imposed extended warranty but never under a recall. As I was told by VW customer service, since there was never a catastrophic issue to our vehicle prior to 120K miles, instead at 124K miles, the safety items were not identified and corrected.
Driving down the road at 35 mph the car suddenly dies, leaving me no power to escape a possible accident, brakes are hard to use, stuck in a traffic lane with cars coming up on me at 35 to 45 mph, turns out the hpfp exploded sending metal thru out the fuel system causing the engine to starve for fuel and stall out, with no fuel getting to the engine the motor wont restart causing a life threatening situation
Had been driving for well over 100 miles on the interstate and was exiting from one interstate onto another in moderate traffic in louisville, Kentucky. During lane change, flashing "glow plug" indicator light came on and "engine fault! workshop!" came on. Car immediately decelerated, causing hard breaking from following traffic and near collision. Able to drive at 40 mph for approximately one mile to another exit. Stopped at traffic light at the bottom of that exit and car stalled in the middle of the road and would not restart. Towed to nearest dealership. Two days later, learned from VW dealer that it was the "hpfp". again. A similar incident happened with this car in the fall of 2011 -- around the same time VW issued their recall of the faulty pump. I was told that the hpfp was replaced at that time. This was only 4 years ago and precisely the same issue. I have had the diesel fuel pump modification (another recall), the car is under the 120K on their "extended warranty" and I only use very-low sulfur diesel gasoline at major national chains when traveling cross-country like this.
Was driving when the engine fault workshop warning came on. The glow plug warning light also appeared. Car wouldn't go past a lower RPM but was able to make it to a parking lot. After grocery shopping, turned the engine on again and started to drive. Both warning lights came on again and then the engine stalled. Was able to start it again and parked it in a parking spot. Waited about 5 minutes and started it again and was able to drive it around the parking lot. Engine light was on but car was running ok. Pulled out onto the street and went about a 1/4 of a mile and the warning lights came on again and stalled. Was able to start it again and make a U-turn and then the lights and stalled happened again. Parked along the curb and called a tow truck. This apparently is a common issue with the fuel pump on VW tdi's. car is currently at a VW dealership waiting on the results for a gas test to see what type of fuel I had in the tank. My call has the gasoline nozzle blocker installed per the recall a few years ago. There is not any gasoline in the tank.
Started the car and after about 5 minutes of driving, the engine shuts off but all electrical systems appear to be working. No trouble/ indicator lights come on. This has happened on the interstate traveling 70, on a side street traveling 35, and sitting idle at a stop light. Every time, the car will run for between 5-7 minutes than not restart for 5-7 minutes. At attempts to restart inside that 5 minute window after the engine stalls, there is no turning over, no clicking or anything. There is no temp issues, or low fuel issues. This has happened on a full tank and a half tank also.
For the 2nd (!) time in 2 years, the high pressure fuel pump failed on the car. As my husband was driving the mountain highway, he lost all horsepower and the dash lights all lit up with various warning signals and a system failure warning. Fuel pump has exploded and introduced metal shavings throughout the entire fuel system.
Vehicle engine shut off during travel, due to fuel filter being clogged by metal debris. The high pressure injection pump failed effectively ending the life of the engine. The welds on the high pressure injection pump had deteriorated, resulting metal debris to circulate through complete injection system. After multiple failed attempts to flush out the injection system it was decided that the best course of action was to replace the entire fuel system along with the fuel injector pump. The dealership would not cover the repair that was estimated to be around $5,500. Very unsatisfied.
2009 Volkswagen - Jetta tdi - 2L, in-line4 (120cl) diesel * a previous claim was submitted lacking information, please disregard. Vehicle engine shut off during travel, due to fuel filter being clogged by metal debris. The high pressure injection pump failed effectively ending the life of the engine. The welds on the high pressure injection pump had deteriorated, resulting metal debris to circulate through complete injection system. After multiple failed attempts to flush out the injection system it was decided that the best course of action was to replace the engine if a replacement could be found. A replacement was found and the current engine installed has the same high pressure injection pump, as a replacement part is not available to independent shops, only to dealerships. Cost of replacing engine - $8,500.
Vehicle engine shut off during travel, due to fuel filter being clogged by metal debris. The high pressure injection pump failed effectively ending the life of the engine. The welds on the high pressure injection pump had deteriorated, resulting metal debris to circulate through complete injection system. After multiple failed attempts to flush out the injection system it was decided that the best course of action was to replace the engine if a replacement could be found. A replacement was found and the current engine installed has the same high pressure injection pump, as a replacement part is not available to independent shops, only to dealerships. Cost of replacing engine - $8,500.
We were driving on down the road and the cars lights started blinking and then car stop running and stopped dead in the road. Could not get it started again. If it had been on the freeway I am sure I would not be typing this we would be in hospital or worse. We had to get out and the steering was not working to get it to side of road. I am elderly and do not have alot of strength. We had to pay extra to aaa to tow it since we were far away from dealer. The dealer called and said there was metal shavings in fuel line and components. I researched online and have seen several of the same things happening to other cars. This is a real safety issue. Please help fix before someone dies car stall problem 2 failure date: 10/25/2012 while driving the dash warning lights illuminated and the car stalled causing complete loss of all power steering almost causing me to lose control and wreck. I was able to steer car to side of road and stop. Once stopped was able to get car to restart but was barely able to drive home (periodically died and had to restart, wouldn't stay running or idle). Had car towed to repair shop. They have diagnosed problem as low rail fuel pressure caused by failed high pressure fuel pump. This failure caused metal shavings to be dispersed throughout entire fuel system. I'm told that the hp fuel pump, low and high pressure fuel regulators, and tank fuel pump all must be replaced along with a complete removal and cleaning of all fuel system components. Estimated cost to repair is between $7,000 and $10,000. This car is a diesel tdi.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Bay Point, CA, USA