25 problems related to power train have been reported for the 2004 Volkswagen Beetle. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Driving my 2004 Volkswagen Beetle is dangerous. The tiptronic transmission in the 2004 vw Beetle is known by Volkswagen to be defective. At any point the valve body can fail, which causes delayed shifting, and hard jerking between gears. My 2004 Beetle fails to shift when accelerating between 2nd and 3rd gear. This causes the vehicle to coast for several seconds, sometimes requiring pulling off the road because of traffic. When downshifting it jerks extremely hard. You get in, start the engine, and receive no warnings that anything is wrong with the vehicle. No check-engine light provides any indication that the vehicle is dangerous. You drive down some city streets and hop onto the freeway to go to your favorite grocery store. After getting off the freeway the car is fully warmed up, and as it downshifts from 4th to 3rd gear it lurches. It feels like the engine is trying to jump out of the car! no engine light comes on. Then you stop at the end of the off-ramp, and wait for a traffic light to turn. After turning the car shifts from 1st to 2nd gear. Then it fails to shift from 2nd to 3rd gear. The gear doesn't engage, and the car coasts down the road without any power. Drivers passing by are staring. The SUV behind you is right on your butt; they begin honking. There's nothing you can do. Finally, after 20 seconds of coasting the car enters 3rd gear with a giant lurch. It feels like it's going to explode! you pull into the grocery store parking lot, heart racing, knowing that the car you're driving almost caused an accident that could kill a half a dozen people. And you know to get home it's going to happen all over again. This problem is reported by hundreds of owners. This is an extreme safety hazard. Volkswagen needs to recall the affected vehicles and pay damages for those whose transmissions were destroyed by this defective valve body and transmission.
2004 Beetle with 85,000 miles hard shifting down - it jerks from gear to gear until it comes to full stop. . Now while upshifting it couldn't make it out of 3rd gear and have almost been rear ended 3 times. Car jerks ,shudders, lurches . Transmission problem is consistent with low mileage vw Beetles.
Tl the contact owns a 2004 Volkswagen Beetle. While driving 60 mph, the battery and abs indicators illuminated and the vehicle downshifted into first gear. The vehicle seized and was moved to the side of the road. The contact attempted to restart the vehicle, but was unsuccessful. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the wire harness failed and needed to be replaced. The fuse box was replaced three times, but the failure recurred. Leith Volkswagen of cary (2300 autopark blvd, cary, nc 27511, (919) 842-5624) and the manufacturer stated that the VIN was not included in a recall. The failure mileage was approximately 157,000.
Transmission locks up, noisy upshift and downshifts. While driving unpredictable gear shifts.
My transmission went out all at once my airbag/seatbeilt light on all the time.
For the past 3-4 years my Beetle has had worsening electrical issues. Sometimes it just turns off all by itself. Everything electrical goes out. It has even happened while driving, I was in traffic and it shut off. I was nearly killed.
The contact owns a 2004 Volkswagen Beetle. While driving at any speed, when the vehicle slowed down to approach a stop sign or traffic light, it would downshift independently. The vehicle became inoperable and had to be pulled over, turned off, and restarted. The mechanic stated that the transmission needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not notified and the vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 90,000.
Car has sudden jerky when shifting also rear windows will not roll up or down. Dealership said needs new transmition but have only had car 8 months. The windows quit working after owning it for one week cost 400 just to fix one window. Dealership estimate to fix transmition 6700. Oo.
Car slipped completely out of gear when shifting from 3rd gear to 4th gear. It continues to do this when the car has completely warmed up. Going out of gear essentially makes us a sitting duck on the highway for a rear end collision. Very much a safety issue for the children riding in the back seat.
Simply what happen was I bought the wrong car it seems. One night I was driving to work and all the sudden as I press the accelerator I notice the car was just revving and not going anywhere at all and on the gauge cluster the pnrds was flashing so I put my hazards on and moved into the breakdown lane and waited for a tow truck.
Vehicle lurches forward when starting from stop. Lurching is severe and becomes worse and transmission warms. Transmission is dsg type of automatic.
I found out today that my 2004 vw Beetle has a faulty transmission valve body. Upon researching it more, it became clear that vw was aware of this problem and denied any responsibility in correcting the problem. Additionally, vw continued to produce cars for years with the defective transmissions. I bought the car used in 2011, which was already out of warranty. I had no knowledge of this problem until last month when it started lurching and shifting hard. My car has fewer than 55,000 miles, and is only driven to work and back (9 miles a day). It was not until I read the enormous amount of complaints that I found out that this problem was not isolated to my car. I am shocked that vw will not correct an expensive and debilitating issue with their cars that causes transmissions to shut down. This problem should not be happening to a car with low miles and is not normal wear and tear. Vw refuses to take responsibility and basically told me they would not do anything to help. I am hoping this complaint will force them to correct this known problem with any vw Beetle produced in the years (2003-2010) that has this defect. It is the safe and right thing to do.
Car wouldn't excel while driving suddenly 1 mile from town suddenly traffic slowed from snow storm in town,the vehicle smell was funny black smoked slowly leaked inside the car windows up heard a misfire engine light went on blinked then I heard loud blast like I thought it was a plow trucks muffler loudness realized ir was my vehicle stopped immediately less 1/3 mile at bank. Shut off motor m now seeing smoke slowly entered in the middle of the 2 front seatsand console. Feeling hot under belly of floors. Orange glow through electrical outlet in back of console appeared to be hotwith plastic casing in and under floors hot sizzling crackling under center casing/I try to call 911 misused the cell wouldn't operate effectively flagged down a man n woman at the corner light of bank they declined to help so I went to car put snow on compartment and wet it down and aired out smoke with passenger door open . I went in bank for assistance . This vehicle was recalled for safety issues by manufacturer in the past . Were said to be corrected by repairman also said seatbelt harness was a issue heated seats were a issue and airbags tranny also recalled for electrical issues and or transmission and air bags on some 2004 vw vehicle Beetles recalls so far occurred to this vw were airbag sensors/ also the seatbelt harness cases were breaking repeatedly once purchased due to putting the seats up and back to get in the vehicle. Now this mysterious fire and headlamp issue. .
My car was fine and it started running a lil funky so I took it to get a diagnostic test and turns out there is a recall on my air bags ! transmission and body valve ? it absolutely doesn't want to go in reverse anymore and I barley bought the car in July of 2012 and this incident happens just 5 months later. Very disappointed please help I am a working nursing student that still makes payments on this car. I know my rights and I feel you can help me out please and thank you. ## VIN failed ##.
The car jolts after it is warmed up. Usually at slower speeds. Tiptronic transmission.
Car was shifting very hard, tires would squeal as shifting between 1-2 and 2-3rd gears. To replace the transmission it will be between 2-5000. 00 dollars we have had to replace window regulators, thermometer.
Erratic shifting up and down between 1st and 3rd gears. Car lurches to the point that a natural reaction is to relieve your foot from the brake which could cause a rear end collision in some cases. Problematic part is internal valve body which is a known problem with vw's of this make and model. We had the problem fixed then called vw customer care to see about reimbursement and were told that an extended warranty was issued for 7 years or 2010. Since my car had low mileage the intication occurred outside of warranty and I was told by vw that it is now my problem to take care of it to the tune of $2300 parts and labor. Incidentally, I also did not receive the warranty as I was told it would have gone to the original owner anyway. Considering this is a known issue and acknowledged by vw to be problematic up to 70,000 miles I feel that vw should offer up compensation in that it is their faulty part. Any help in recouping costs incurred to fix this problem would be appreciated.
The contact owns a 2004 Volkswagen Beetle. The contact stated that while driving 15 mph, the vehicle experienced difficulty shifting between first and second gears. The contact was able to move to the shoulder to restart the vehicle. The failure recurred several times after restarting the vehicle. The vehicle was not taken to a mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted about the issue. The failure mileage was not available and the current mileage was 114,888. The VIN was not available.
Vehicle just started downshifting very hard (automatic transmission). Broke two motor mounts while driving due to the transmission shifting this hard.
When accelerating from a stop or from a low speed, when shifting from 3rd to 4th gear, the engine revs to a very high rpm, and I have no power and no acceleration. If I take my foot off the gas, it will then shift with a hard clunk. Shifting in other gears is starting to be clunky as well. It is very dangerous to be driving on a highway with a car drifting to a lower velocity, when you are trying to accelerate!.
Transmission problem only when at use for 20min starts to thump in all gears. But mostly noticable at 3 and 4. Sometime locks at 3 and have to turn off and let rest to engage 1 again.
My automatic 2004 vw Beetle convertible jerks so hard from 1st to 2nd gear, it fells like I have been rear ended, or popped the clutch. I have almost been in 2 accidents due to the severity of the jerking, and have had the wheels actually squeal. The car works fine for the first 20-30 minutes, but then gets so bad I fear I may get whiplash. It is now beginning to rev to 6000 rpm when it shifts into 6th gear, or hesitates and I lose power. Have been told I will need to replace transmission, but that will cost almost as much as the car is worth.
The car jerks between gears and it is getting worse. The problem is the valve body. It is a known problem. (hundreds of postings on the internet complaining. ) vw had an extended warranty up to 100,000 and we are only at 69,000, but it ended in October 2010. We were never notified of the problem nor did the mechanic tell us of the problem. From what I have read the transmission will now suddenly jam up and this has happened in traffic. The vw dealership now wants $2,317 for the repair! clearly this is a safety issue that should be covered by vw.
The contact owns a 2004 Volkswagen Beetle. The contact stated while driving the vehicle it would shift into neutral gear and then the brake pedal had to be engaged in order to shift back into drive. The contact spoke with the dealer who was told that the control valves caused the failure. The current mileage was 64,000. The consumer stated the engine would increase in speed and the transmission shifted down to 5th gear. Updated 12/02/11.
Trans shifting badly, problem started shortly after vehicle purchase took to dealer and they said they could not duplicate. Vehicle was under warranty and nothing was done. Today vehicle has 94000 miles and looks like trans and valve body will need to be replaced. I wish someone would get on vw of America so they would step up to the plate. They come to thiscountry sell a defective product and the american people get taken hope the government will step in. I am an american vet and cannot believe this is happening.