general problems of the 2004 Volkswagen Beetle

My transmission went out all at once my airbag/seatbeilt light on all the time.

Airbag service light on dash came on. This means the airbags were disabled. Dealership identified the seat belt clasp on the driver seat as the problem. The electronics in the clasp were not communicating correctly causing the airbag to be disabled. The seatbelt as a safety mechanism itself was not compromised. The dealership representative indicated that this was a known and common issue with this vehicle make and model and that the fix was to replace the seatbelt clasp at a cost of about $300. 00. The cause of the seatbelt clasp to fail was the motion of moving the seat backwards and forwards. To access the rear seats of the car the seat must be moved backwards and forwards as it is a two door car. Overtime, this activity wore out some electronics in the clasp causing the airbag to be disabled. This is not a normal wear and tear item that is customarily replaced such as tires, brake pads or wiper blades. The manufacture should recognize this critical safety issue and offer to voluntarily recall the vehicles and/or offer to pay for a fix in our case.

Driver's side seat belt wiring has failed thus illuminating the air bag light. The seat belt wiring is of minute diameter with little shielding and poor conduit. Because the seat belt must flex when moving the seat forward, the strain on the wiring in the seat belt rips the wiring from it's soldered joint. This causes the air bag light to illuminate and causes the air bag system to revert to a backup algorithm that puts the driver in a dangerous environment. This "backup" algorithm will not monitor vehicle speed and will automatically deploy the airbag at a default amount of force regardless of impact force. This means that a minor fender bender that reaches the airbag force threshold could deploy the airbag at a force too great and conversely a high speed impact may deploy the airbag with insufficient force. This is an extremely common problem on this model year vehicle. A quick internet search will alert you as to how common this problem is. After calling my local dealership, they told me "we replace a ton of those seatbelts. " Volkswagen should acknowledge this egregious manufacturing defect and recall this defective part before fatal consequences further prove this is a deadly and extremely common problem.

The contact owns a 2004 Volkswagen Beetle. The contact stated that the front window motors failed and were replaced at her expense. The seat belts latches had also failed. In addition, the transmission would intermittently jerk violently when attempting to up shift from second to third gear. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the contact was informed that the transmission would need replacing. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer did not provide any assistance. The failure mileage was 48,000 and the current mileage was 51,000.

I was driving 25 mph and my front bumper hit a parked car, airbag deployed and rendered me unconscience it caused $12,000 to my teeth and possible head injury and 18 months at a specialist dental, had to have a bone graph and stint in my mouth, liver and abdominal contusion had to pay an attorney $9,000 to an attorney to represent me in court, I lost my job and am now on ssd.

The airbag light, among other things, in our 2004 new Beetle has come on approximately 10 times in three years. Each time, the vehicle was taken back to the dealer and supposedly fixed, but without fail, the light came back on each time. The seatbelt buckle was changed, connections were secured, they said it was shorted (guided fault findings, bumper cover removed, seat removed), and others. I have all copies of service records. After all these service visits, the airbag light is still on and we are very concerned that the airbag system is not working correctly and could cause serious damage and may not deploy correctly during an accident. I heard there was an investigation being conduct on the 2004 new Beetles and wanted to let you know of our experience. Crash sensor. Pco.