Four problems related to underhood wiring have been reported for the 2000 Volkswagen Beetle. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
While backing out of driveway and without prior warning smoke was coming from inside of the vehicle vents. Vehicle caught on fire .
While driving at 35mph a fire started under the hood, causing consumer to pull over. Dealer notified.
Vehicle caught fire while on way home from work. Initial symptom was that vehicle lost power while on highway and stalled. Vehicle was able to be restarted. It then was able to be driven approx. 5 miles when it again lost power. It was then able to be restarted. Vehicle was driven to a fuel station when it stalled. Upon restart the instrument panel gages were not operative. It was driven into an amoco gas station when smoke began emanating from under the hood. The intensity of the smoke increased and it was apparent that the car was on fire. I pulled hood opening lever near driver's side kick panel to open hood. I jumped out of vehicle and opened hood. The left front portion of the engine compartment was on fire and flames were readily apparent. The flames were coming from underneath the firewall of the vehicle extending up the wire harness towards the battery. The battery started to melt as well. A passerby in a cube van observed this incident and grabbed a fire extinguisher from his truck and proceeded to contain and extinguish the fire. Er.
Srs light keeps coming on. Vehicle taken to dealer 6 times, replaced wiring harness once. Other times consumer was told vehicle was repaired, light was off, but came back on after a period of time.