This is my second complaint. My 06 VW Rabbit has been stalling since approx. The second month that I had it (bought 06/06). In August 08 after continually complaining about this issue my car first started to sputter "like the timing was off" while driving (not the first time for sputtering but it usually does it when idle, not driving). I took the car into dealership and they could find nothing wrong even though the car sputtered 3 times on my way back home. The very next morning the car started to smoke very bad, smell like gasoline, and a light was flashing on the dashboard. I burned a 1/4 tank of gas driving approx 10 miles to dealership. The dealership had the car for two+ weeks and has since replaced the 02 sensor, fuel injectors, etc. However approx 2+ weeks after getting the car back it stalled again. The car is also occasionally making a strange knocking noise behind the steering wheel (which has also been an ongoing problem) and occasionally the tailpipe is "backfiring" not like a loud boom but like a release of air (which had only happened twice before and now happens more often). I can't stress enough how bad my nerves have become while sitting in traffic which is what I do at least twice a day. The car mostly stalls when the car is idle (I.e. sitting at lights, sitting in traffic, parking spaces). Because the issue is sporadic I cannot get anyone to take this matter seriously because I have no way to prove it since the codes clear after the car is restarted and VW does not have a black box to record the incidents. I have found sites with people having the same problems and getting the same response from the dealerships. I think this unsolved mystery with the stalling is making the wear and tear on my engine worse because my car no longer runs the same and problems just keep getting worse. I don't want to wait for the warranty to run out before more serious problems show themselves.

- Chesapeake, VA, USA

My 06 VW Rabbit (bought in June, problems started in approx August) will stall or sputter sporadically. This happens usually when waiting at a light, sitting in traffic, or when about to take off and the car is idle. It has happened months apart and sometimes days apart. If the car does not shut off completely it sometimes does a hard jerk back and forth like when you don't ease of the clutch right when driving a stick (this is an A/T transmission) and the RPM's drop to just above 0. the car starts back up after it shuts off however the last couple of times it took several attempts to restart. The very last time the car shut off I was not driving. The car was parked I got in, started it, and it immediately shut back off. Nothing has been done to correct this issue. When I take it to the dealership these things do not happen when they drive it around the block and it was explained to me that the scan codes clear upon restarting the car. I did suggest the next time the car shuts off to have them tow it so that way the codes do not clear out but they did not agree with the suggestion. The only suggestion they can offer me is to wait until it happens all the time.

- Chesapeake, VA, USA