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.
The car is a 2011 VW Jetta sw tdi. On Sept 7, 2015, while driving on the autobahn, the car's check engine light activated and the car abruptly lost power. I coasted to a stop on the shoulder. I shut the car off and it would not restart. It was towed to the nearest VW dealer. We had to rent a vehicle for almost two weeks. VW said the fuel pump was destroyed due to tainted diesel fuel. Reports indicated that metal shavings were found in fuel samples. VW replaced the entire fuel system at a cost of eight thousand euros. I have contacted the esso station & headquarters. Esso has indicated that there have been no reports of tainted diesel fuel at the station. I am being shuffled between the esso station & the VW dealership. It is obvious who the responsible party is. VW needs to do what is right and demonstrate corporate social responsibility.
November 2014 incidents: Two incidents of failing to start. First incident: Car failed to start once and started on second try. Second incident: Car several times failed to start & engine made clanking noise. Had car towed to VW Agency. Car started after unloaded from tow truck and Agency found nothing wrong. December 2014 incident: Car started, but after slowly driving to parking lot exit and before at full stop, at engine quit and would not restart. I put the car in neutral and backed down a slight grade to get car out of traffic; after coming to a stop the car started up.
Was driving in parking lot when vehicle suddenly died while underway and check engine light came on. Thankfully it happened at a relatively low speed and while not in traffic as there was little to no warning before the engine died completely causing loss of power, steering, braking etc. After towing vehicle to Volkswagen of South charlotte, they indicated the high pressure fuel pump had failed resulting in metal particles from the pump being sent through entire fuel system. Dealer indicated cause was bad fuel, however, I also have a diesel truck that I fill up at the same station all the time and have never had issue with it. While vehicle was repaired under warranty by VW, after researching this, it became clear that this is a problem that is happening frequently enough that it is likely a design flaw that should be addressed by the manufacturer.
Shortly after purchasing the vehicle new we experienced issues with the vehicle stuttering when driving and at times shutting off completely as if it stalled (the vehicle is an automatic with the dsg transmission). We took the vehicle to the VW dealership under warranty but the tech could not replicate the problem and sent us on our way and told us to comeback if it kept occurring. The problem persisted and we took the vehicle to the service department again and they said the problem could not be found and once again sent us away and told us to come back if the problem kept occurring. The vehicle is now stuttering and stalling much more often and the warranty has run out. I called the VW hq they told me to take the vehicle in and have the tech look at it which has cost me $112 in which they once again found nothing and recommended I let the car warm up prior to driving. It is currently summer and the low temperatures are around 70 and the highs are 85+. in addition this is a modern vehicle and had I know I was going to need to let it warm up I would not have purchased it. This isn"T the 50"S. my wife and I now feel the vehicle is unsafe to drive due to the fact it stalls out at unpredictable times causing a loss of power steering, power brakes. If VW does not fix this issue I will be trading it in due to their disregard for safety of my family.
I was operating the car on a highway when the vehicle experienced a sudden reduction in power and the dash displayed a flashing glow plug light and solid check engine warning lights. I immediately pulled to the side of the road where the engine was shut off. The engine failed to restart and was towed to a Volkswagen dealership. The service manager told me that the cause was a catastrophic failure of the (hpfp); it totally came apart and distributed metal throughout the fuel system. Injector pump (diesel), injectors, injector lines, primary fuel lines, and primary fuel pump. The car only has 54,000 miles on it.
- Sacramento, CA, USA
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While driving the engine light came on and the car lost power. We were on a rural road so we could pull to the side of the road safely, if this had happened on a freeway we could have been in danger of being rear ended. Once stopped the care would not restart. Had to be towed to VW dealer. The high pressure fuel pump had failed.
I purchased a used 2011 VW Jetta sportwagen tdi on Monday, July 28, 2014 and 5 days later on August 2nd, the car died. I had been driving for about an hour mostly on the highway and then some moderately winding foothill roads. I stopped at a stop sign and when I accelerated into the intersection the engine abruptly died and would not restart. The engine turned over when the key was turned, but it wouldn't start. Fortunately, people in the vehicles behind me helped push my car to the side of the road. It was towed to a nearby repair shop specializing in foreign cars for evaluation. They found the diesel fuel pump had failed and they said there are metal shavings throughout the fuel system.
Glow plug light started blinking, then the engine light came on. Shifting became erratic. Pulled into a service station, and once the vehicle was turned off, it wouldn't restart. After basic checks, the fuel pump was pulled for inspection and metal shavings were found. In researching the repair, the independent station suggested putting things back together, and having it towed to the dealer, as it was suspected to be a known issue with the Bosch high pressure fuel pump. In fact it was, and while the car was two months out of warranty, the dealer went ahead and covered the repair under the unrelated drivetrain warranty. I consider myself incredibly lucky that this wasn't 15 minutes earlier, when I was traveling at highway speeds, on an incredibly full freeway. It could've been a major accident if I had suddenly lost power. Considering there are entire websites devoted to tracking this issue, I can't believe that there hasn't been a recall.
Driving at 45 mph, engine did not stall but lost power. Motor stalled after about 10 seconds. After putting in neutral and rolling to a stop the motor would not restart. After towing to local VW dealer, was told the mechanical fuel pump failed. They said it was 4-5 thousand job but VW was picking up the repair and not charging it out to our extended warranty. Was given a loaner car until repairs are made. No indication of how long. Is this an admission by VW that a serious problem exists with tdi models?
Glow plug & check engine lights came on, engine died 30 seconds later. Would not restart, towed to dealer, diagnosed hpfp catastrophic failure, metal debris in fuel system. Whole fuel system replaced, tank through to injectors. No warning of fault condition with no time to pull off to side of road, left stuck in middle of highway.
While driving through town 35 mph my tdi sportwagon glowplug light started flashing. I immediately turned into a parking lot within seconds and put the transmission in park. The car sounded like it was not firing on a cylinders. I turned the car off. After that it would not start back up. From what I have read, it has to do with the high pressure fuel pump. This made things unsafe and their are no visible signs of leaks/ corrosion/ or signs of wearing. The malfunctioning fuel system caused my car to fail and stall in a busy intersection. The fuel system should be recalled. At least the pump system.
Went to pass a vehicle and I felt a surge then a siren sound started coming from the right side of engine. Was told by dealership it was a vacuum issue and it was safe to drive. When I got to dealership they told me it was a blown turbo. Wondering if this is tied to the incident I had with the high pressure fuel pump failing around 100K. Too many major catastrophic issues with this car. I've been quoted 15,000 for repairs on a car I'm still making payments on and only cost 28K to begin with.
Driving on surface street at approximately 40 mph. In 2011 Jetta sportwagen tdi with only 23000 miles."service now! " warning came on and car immediately stalled in the middle of traffic and would not restart. Had to be towed to VW dealer, has been there 5 days so far waiting for high pressure fuel pump replacement. From investigation, this is not an obscure event, is known to occur with this model and year tdi (diesel) engines. If this occurred on a high speed freeway, I could have easily been struck and killed when car suddenly stopped.
I was cruising at 60 mph this morning when the glow-plug warning light began to flash and the cruise control was shut off immediately causing an unexpected deceleration. I pulled into the emergency lane and the engine shut off once I came to a stop. The engine would not restart and the glow-plug light was joined with the check engine light. I had it towed to my mechanic who read the computer codes as "low fuel pressure to the injectors". he looked into the fuel filter and found metal shaving. He stated those shaving point to a complete failure of the high pressure fuel pump (hpfp). I owned this car for only two weeks and, based on Volkswagen's reputation and the reputation of the tdi diesel engine I expected to own this car for years. The repair costs are now estimated to be half the purchase price I paid less than a month ago.
The contact owns a 2011 Volkswagen Jetta. The contact stated that while attempting to park, the vehicle stalled without warning. The failure was recurring but the vehicle was able to be restarted after several minutes. The check engine and glow plug warning light would also illuminate after the failure had occurred. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer, who diagnosed that the fuel system needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 45000.
While driving on 95 North through phila my 2011 Jetta tdi began to lose power. I could not accelerate and the vehicle eventually came to a stop. It would not restart. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and after evaluation I was told it was the high pressure fuel pump that failed. This was going to be an extensive repair but VW was going to pay for the repair. The vehicle will be in the shop for approx. 4 to 5 days they say. There was approx 72,200 miles at the time of the failure.
The high pressure fuel system failed in our car when we were on a busy city street. 'engine control malfunction' light started flashing and suddenly our car was stalled. When we looked in the manual it said to get the car to a VW dealership asap. We had to hold up traffic until the car was finally towed. Not only that, this happened during late night around 10 pm and all the service centers were closed. After a painful 2 days we just found out that out high pressure fuel system had to be replaced. This is a big structural damage with the car and I no longer feel safe owning or driving it.
The high pressure fuel system failed in our car when we were on a one lane highway. 'engine control malfunction' light started flashing and suddenly our car was stalled. When we looked in the manual it said to get the car to a VW dealership asap. We had to hold up traffic until the car was finally towed. Not only that, we were on vacation in the different city and this happened during the weekend when the service centers are closed. After a painful 2 days we just found out that out high pressure fuel system has broken again. It was last replaced in April 2013 and it was exactly the same situation. This is a really big structural damage and happened with no fault on our side. The last one cost up to $10K, which VW covered due to warranty. However, it is also a safety hazard since we could have easily gotten into an accident. After having gone through this twice, we no longer feel safe driving the tdi and strongly feel that the car should be recalled.
My 2011 Volkswagen Jetta tdi started to sputter when accelerating, I brought it the dealer and they found shards of metal in the fuel system. Hpfp (high pressure fuel pump) had failed. The quote to fix was $6875 to fix a two year old car. Very un happy.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Apo, AE, USA