Owners/service Manual Problems of Volkswagen Beetle

While driving on highway, about 70 mph, car bucked and seemed to begin to lose power. Tachometer dropped to 0 then swung back up to 2-3. Epc light came on. I couldn't accelerate beyond 65 mph. During slowed traffic, car began idling extremely high. Had to control it with clutch. (it's a manual. ) car is drivable, but continues to buck and epc continues on. Dealership suggested replace throttle board, but all my research suggests that most drivers who have done so say this did not solve the problem. There are huge discussions about this problem on multiple message boards, so it seems to be an ongoing, recognized, consistent problem, and probably a safety hazard, as a car stalling on the highway, or idling too high in traffic is not a good situation.

See all problems of the 2006 Volkswagen Beetle 🔎.

Problem with clutch release. Pulling away from a stop, the clutch sometimes disengages without any sign of shutter. All of a sudden you find yourself in traffic and the engine is off and the steering wheel is locked. This occurs several times a week and creates a panic response especially when you are pulling away from a light or merging into traffic. Cars from behind have to hit their brakes when you pull out into a lane of traffic and the car stalls. My wife and I have driven six different vehicles over the past 30 years all which had manual transmissions. Four of these vehicles were vw’s. We know what it feels like when you accidently “pop the clutch”. There is usually a shutter and you feel the vehicle comes to an abrupt stop. In the case on my 2014 vw Beetle, you sometime never feel anything through the clutch pedal and all of a sudden you see the alternator light and you realize the engine is “dead”. I took the car into the vw dealer and the shop supervisor drove the car with me as a passenger. As it would be, the car never stalled ever after making may stops and pulling up hills, etc. The dealership was very nice and did try to make the car behave as I have described above. Unfortunately it did not. I’m writing this to go on record as having what I feel is a potential safety related problem with my vw.

See all problems of the 2014 Volkswagen Beetle 🔎.

The vehicle is equipped with manual transmission and keyless ignition. This is an unsafe combination should the car be stalled. When the start button is pushed and I have failed to get the clutch pedal all the way to the bottom the car won't start. Now the button must be pushed once to turn the ignition off, once more to turn the ignition on and yet a third time to engage the starter and hopefully the clutch pedal is fully engaged. All of this happening while in panic mode as you observe autos coming at you. A manual transmission vehicle should have a starter button separate from the ignition switch. For background I am 60 years old and have driven standard shift cars my entire life and have never encountered such a problem. I believe the clutch lockout feature should be disabled in a vehicle with this combination or a separate starter button be provided. I am convinced I will die in this car either as a result of a crash or heart attack.

Rear power windows not behaving. On passenger side, it doesn't move at all - lots of scratching noises. On the driver's side, when powered 'up' the window goes up halfway, then immediately back down. The register appears to work but has a will of its own. At present, the first window can be closed manually, the second (driver's side) will not close at all. There appears to be a great deal of complaints on the web about the rear windows on several years of the vw nb - that's why I'm going in the recall direction. There is clearly a structural problem in this area of the car.

See all problems of the 2005 Volkswagen Beetle 🔎.