general problems of the 2003 Volkswagen Beetle

Passengers side headlight shorting out for 7th bulb replacement and new electrical problems. Strange, all within 6 months. My 21 yr old nursing student of ecu university has had the exact same issue while on her 4 hour trip home 7 times now. The wiring continues to fry itself in the main fuse box , now affecting theabs braking system. I paid $9k in cash and have electrical receipts, seat belt, convertible top, blower door, front end replacement, radiator, water pump, trunk latch, hydro licks on convertible, timing belt, 4 batteries, air bags! I could continue with a longer list. I added up to $17,000. 00 I have in this piece of crap that continues to break monthly . I would be ecstatic to provide all receipts. Isn't problems of this great nature unreasonable for a car with 70,000 miles also considered a lemon? all incidents have left my daughter stranded on interstate 85 where she has feared her life fight off the homeless psychotic people. It has left me unable to buy her a new car with no savings due to fixing something new each month. And 27 degrees outside with no ability to start it. The seat levers back and forth have had to be bolted in one position to prevent seat belt electrical too short electrical cord so the faulty airbags may by chance deploy if she ever got into an accident. Latest is. She needs another water pump and timing belt from just being done 2 years ago!! something major defects with this car. I fear for her life! last trip home a car did not see her pulled over on interstate and side swiped her bumper. Water pump again. See photo of it leaking more when we had it towed home in garage. Also rear bumper of inciden.

Electrical main fuse box under hood burnt and melted into battery. See pics of burnt fuse box, and indention of melted battery. Car cut off while in motion on highway, causing my 19 year old college daughter to almost wreck in route to school last week at 8pm est. Her major is nursing. I want to make sure she's alive to see her graduate. Outside air temp was 65 degrees. This is extremely dangerous, not to mention the cost that will be associated with paying for volkswagons poor design electrical misengineering flaw, a new alternator, all electrical wiring, a new battery, and possibly new convertible top motor. Her vw is/was in mint condition with fewer than 80k miles. Vw estimates costs to fix over $5k to 6k. Kbb value is much less. My daughters life is priceless. Also, the wiring harness for the seatbelts underneath the seat are too short!! if you slide the seats back, it breaks electrical connections which triggers seatbelts light to come on, which disengages airbags to work in the event of an accident. The 2 front seats also must slide forward in order for back seat passengers to enter vehicle. Is this how vw saves money, by shortening electrical wire to connect seatbelts? perhaps it's on purpose to avoid millions of electrical lawsuits?.

Air bag warning light diagnosed at service by dealer (campbell/nelson vw) indicated that a sensor or switch located in the driver-side seatbelt latch was defective and even when the seatbelt was latched, the airbag would not deploy. This turned out to be a $400 repair and I believe it should be considered for a recall.

First I must ask myself why am I wasting my time again? you can write to NHTSA all you want and explain your complaint / defect but that's as far as it goes, they never respond and nothing gets repaired for free unless numerous accidents happen and people get hurt or worse yet die!.

The front passenger seat belt would not unlatch. Passenger had to climb out from underneath. Call to the vw dealership yielded comment from service department "sometimes the seat belt latch breaks; you need to bring it in and have it replaced (at my cost)". On may 14, 2014 I had the service repair done. Mileage was 49,486. Cost was $292. 16. Service was done by jim ellis Volkswagen marietta, 1860 cobb parkway, marietta, GA 30060. I think this is a safety defect. If we had been in an accident, my passenger would not have been able to get out of the car; this would have been life-threatening, they could have died. I think Volkswagen should make a recall of 2003 Beetle convertibles and replace the latch and sensor (to airbag) at no charge to owner.

1. My airbag light in my car came on. 2. I took it to a repair shop that found the seatbelt sensor had gone bad thus causing the airbag light to come on and the airbags would not deploy in the case of an accident. 3. The seatbelt was replaced so that the sensor would again be working correctly and the airbags would be deployed in the case of an accident. As the seatbelt mechanism was working fine, but just a tiny sensor on the seatbelt arm went bad, it caused my airbags to be deactivated. There should be a lifetime warranty on such safety parts such that there is never a failure to deploy airbags or an issue with seatbelts. The auto repair employees said they have replaced hundreds of these seatbelts in vws for the very same reason I had.