Four problems related to transmission stuck in gear have been reported for the 2005 Volkswagen Beetle. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
I bought a used 2005 vw new Beetle with triptonic transmission with 82,000 miles a few weeks ago. Very quickly the car started having transmission issues which appear when the car has warmed up after ~10/15 mins. The problem I'm experiencing is that the car will not shift smoothly when running between the 3 and 4th gear and often revs up to 5000 rpm before it "clunks" into higher gear. It's also hard shifting very abruptly sometimes which gives me very little confidence in driving the car. It seems unsafe to drive as it suddenly lunges forward or gets stuck in gear and doesn't accelerate. One of the worst incident for me was while in traffic going slightly uphill the car got stuck in third and started revving up without accelerating and I almost got hit by a car behind who didn't expect my car to move so slowly. I took the car to a Volkswagen dealership and they didn't find anything weird the first time when I took it for the 80. 000 miles revision. After repeatedly experiencing the issue I took it again to the dealership to explicitly check the transmission and they recommended to change the valve body of the transmission. I have now read a lot of information on the internet and this is a very well known issue by vw as well as by many people who own Beetles with triptronic transmission. Vw extended the warranty of the valve body of the transmission to 7 years or 100. 000 miles whichever happens first. Unfortunately they didn't want to cover the replacement for my car since it's 2016 and the 7 years warranty expired in 2012 for this case. This is extremely disappointing and I feel scammed by vw not wanting to cover for an issue that's very well known by them. They sold defective cars and know perfectly well that the transmission is failing way faster than it should yet they now dismiss this because of the age of the car.
On the 2nd my son was driving my car on the highway with me as a passenger at 70 mph when suddenly the rpm's shot up and the car stalled out. Fortunately he was able to restart the car and safely get us off the highway. We then approached a light in which we had to stop at and the car did not want to go. I finally figured out the car was in a safety mode and is stuck in 3rd gear. I have had three mechanic look at the car. No one can figure out at this point if it needs a new transmission or it is an electrical problem with the transmission. Either way a transmission should not have issues at under 100,000 miles. I have also looked on line and seen to shock how many people with this car are have issues with their transmissions. Why have the transmissions not been recalled? we could have been killed or seriously injured when the car just stalled out at 70 mph. On top of the car is falling apart! in the 9 months I have owed the fuel pump has gone out, waterpump, timing belt, and thermostat as well. Not too forget to mention that the interior is slowly falling apart as well. Something done about this situation!!!.
Car jolts into gear between 1st and 2nd gear; also problems between 3rd and 4th gear on an automatic transmission. Brought car into local vw dealer immediately, to have repaired. Diagnosed problem as needing a new valve body for transmission. This problem has been so widespread that vw issued an extended warranty for 7 years 100,000 mi. Problem. . . Repair is $1,800. Vw will not cover this and honor the warranty for my vehicle which only has 49,000 mi. On it. They said I am 6 month outside of the time warranty (expired 6/18/12). They will not authorize an exception even though my car only has 49,000 mi. . It is unsafe to drive as it lunges forward and also gets stuck in gear.
Problems with shifting between 3rd & 4th gears, lurching, and lagging. I called the dealer, gave the symptoms and asked what they thought the problem could be, they insisted they hadn't heard of vw's doing that. My car continued to decline, becoming stuck in a gear, violently lurching, stalling, and all gears lit up(bracketed) on the dash. When I took car to vw Nov 2011, 80,000 miles, first they said they couldn't duplicate, but I persisted explaining my horrible, lurching drive into work, where I stalled several times almost getting hit, and how I couldn't put the children I care for in my car for fear of someone hitting my stalled vehicle. The vw mechanic talked me into flushing out the trans and checking the magnet($560). He said 80% chance it was my trans(quoted $6,000), even after there were no metal shavings in the pan, or said it could be the valve body(quoted $1,600), but they wouldn't know until after the repair. I have driven other cars well beyond 200,000 miles without having a trans issue, so was shocked the trans could be bad at 80,000 miles! I took good care of my car, and drove her kindly. The mechanic denied trans issues being common for Beetles. I paid the $560, and there wasn't an improvement. I found out about the extended warranty on the valve body too late(even though it was in effect when I took my car in for service!) I was scared every time I drove, and irate once I learned through online search that faulty transmissions are a hugely known problem and vw won't fess up and fix their problem!! after the trans blew on the interstate(that was terrifying having a trans go at 70mph and I am so thankful I was able to guide my car to the shoulder of the road before I was hit!!), the Beetle sat in my driveway while I still made payments on it for several months. Please investigate and force Volkswagen to recall these dangerous transmissions!!.