Volkswagen Beetle owners have reported 32 unknown or other related problems since 1996. Table 1 shows the 1 most common unknown or other problems. The number one most common problem is related to the vehicle's unknown or other (32 problems). For details of each of the problem category, use the links in the table.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Unknown Or Other problems |
Rear window down after I drove with top down. Returned convertible top up and rear window won't go back up. Replacement/ repair is over 600. 00 plus labor.
My car lurches forward when I stop. Took it to the dealership and they ran it on the computer stated found nothing. Mechanic said he took it out for a drive and no problems encountered while driving. When vehicle lunges forward ;I feel like I am going to be rearended by the car behind me because it is so sudden; no way to warn the car behind me. Please help me and others that have posted the same problems on internet. Thank-you.
On 5/15/12, I parked my car at 1:20 p. M. In an off road small private parking lot (a small assisted living complex in stockton, CA), temperature less than 80 degrees, no trees overhead, perpendicular, facing the side of the building. When I came out 3 hours later, from the inside of the car, I noticed what seemed to be a semi-circle hairline fracture on my front windshield, that hadn't been there before; starting at the upper roofline approximately 10 inches to the left of the rearview mirror, arching downward through the center location of the mirror bracket (siliconed to the windshield from the inside) arching back upwardly approximately 8" to the right of the mirror ending at the upper roofline. Closer examination from inside showed one vertical fracture to the right of the bracket position, from the roofline as the actual possible origin of the left arch, the right arch separate from the previous branching into an additional hairline fracture, and yet another smaller attached hairline semicircle fracture arching below the first observed semicircle!! there is a very tiny loop of silicone hanging from the inside roofline. Previous to this observation, there had been no fractures! this was totally "out of the blue". In my 4903 miles of driving, I had not experienced anything but rain "hitting" the windshield. . . No other drivers have driven the car without my being in the car. . . And I have only used "touch less" car washes. I contacted the dealership where I purchased the vehicle and the national vw customer care center, after reading multiple vw owners' comments online with similar "spontaneous" fractures to their 2012 Beetle's windshields!!.
My 2005 vw Beetle is a turbo/automatic. It has 79,500 miles on it. The car jerks and shakes when slowing down for a stop. It happens at various speeds, from 60 mph and less. I had the transmission fluid checked and changed, but the problem still occurs. I don't feel safe in my car anymore. I don't know what it's going to do which might endanger me or other drivers around me. I've read many Beetle owner complaints on-line about the same problem, and it appears to be a common occurrence. I am aware that a letter from NHTSA was sent out to some vw Beetle owners to "extend the warranty that covers the valve body in your vehicle's transmission to 7 years or 100,000 miles". I never received that notice! to have a new "valve body" installed would be an expense I can't afford. I am a senior citizen, and I occasionally have my grandchildren in the car with me. I don't feel my car is safe enough to have them in the car now. When I purchased the vehicle, I expected it to last me longer than 7 years, especially since vw has a good reputation. I checked the blue book value of my car, and the repairs would probably be about half of what the car is worth. I can't sell it and make any money on it; I can't trade it in and get much for it; and if I had to purchase another car, I'd have car payment that I can't afford. I am now "stuck" with a car that doesn't work properly and possibly dangerous to drive. I am very disappointed.
I have a 2004 volkswagon 1. 8 turbo convertible Beetle. The car is is jumping back and forth when it tries to shift gears. I brought it in to the local vw dealer and they told me that they would need to run diagnostics in order to see what the problem was. By looking on line we had a pretty good idea that it was the valve body or the transmision. After they ran the diagnostics they confirmed that it was the valve body. They had extended the warranty from 5 years 70,000 to 7 years 100000 miles. We where then advised that the car had missed the warranty by a few months but that we should still process diagnostics as vw normally assists when so close to warranty expiring. They know these cars have this default. The dealer contacted vw America and told me that they would not assist with the repair because I was the third owner of the car. I purchased the car in 2007 from a vw dealer and it was a certified vehicle. I am the 2nd owner. I am afraid that I will have an accident the way the car thrashes back and forward when the transmision shifts. I am also very concerned as I am pregnant. It is unaceptable that vw is unwilling to make this repair when they know that they have this problem. This was our third Volkswagen. The car only has 72000 miles.
Window regulator faulty on all windoes.
This is for a convertible Beetle: the rear window rolled down while opening the top, made a grinding sound, and now will not go up either with the convertible top close button, nor with the individual window button - the window motor works, but the regulator mechanism makes a grinding sound and the window stays in open position (on-line entry system won't accept correct phone # so I list it here: correct daytime phone is [xxx]) . Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).
All the windows appear to have major problems, the back right makes a horrible grinding noise and won't budge, the driver's side window makes a weird noise but moves, and the overall placement of the windows is odd and leaks air.
In city traffic, my vehicle has a violent jerky down-shift when approaching a stop, approximately 25mph to 20 mph. It feels like the bottom of the car is falling out. When these occurrences first happened, they were occasional. On the highway I believe it slips from one gear to another. Today, a few months later the occurrences are more frequent and I am forced to seek professional care for my vehicle. I have regularly maintained my vehicle with care and attention to the maintenance requirements. My online research has indicated that this event is not an isolated event, but this occurrence describes a typical vw Beetle transmission with mileage between 50k and 70k; there are hundreds if not thousands of like complaints. I have found two separate forums online supporting this very complaint. This is very low mileage for a failed transmission, especially when many similar small vehicles are offering warranties for 100k miles or more. The vw customer care has failed to respond to my inquiries. I believe my car has become unsafe to drive and I am fearful that it will break down on the freeway or a potentially dark road or in bad weather. I would ask that the NHTSA please look into these recurrent issues with Volkswagen and make Volkswagen accountable for the failing transmission, or, at the very least look into the valve bodies and whether they are up to standards, standards that would prevent this vehicle from failing on the highway and causing potential hazards to drivers and passengers. Thank you,.
We purchased a used 2002 vw Beetle for our daughter. It smells like burnt crayons and gives her a serious headache. Online there a numerous people complaining of this same problem. It comes from something sprayed on the undercarriage, that smells more when the car is heated up. You must be aware of this problem. What are you going to do. What should we do. The odor was covered up during the test drive, but has now become unbearable. What avenues should we pursue. Lemon law, recall, . . . What should we do. . . Or more aptly what arn't you doing? I want a solution.
I have a 2004 vw Beetle convertible. The driver's side window does not drop down in order to clear the canvas top. I was told this was a regulator issue. Now my back passenger window is frozen in half down position. It can not be pulled up or pushed down. There have been numerous complaints regarding the window on these models. I have also had the glass in the canvas top to become detached. My insurance will not cover this as during their investigation they found that it is so common with this model of vehicle that they can deem it "normal wear and tear. " this is not right! my car is garage kept and should not be having these problems! I am not able to replace any parts at this time because of income. The consumer is made to pay the bill for vw's faulty manufactoring.
Airbag light came on and stays on constantly on a 2000 Beetle. There are too many complaints about the problem wiring under the seat causing the airbag light to stay on. . . This should be the subject of a recall investigation!.
Right rear window regulator failed, vw payed for regulator but charged $389. 00 labor to fix (window up and down less then 20 times up to this point. Left rear window regulator failed June 2011, labor charge $403. 05 vw payed for regulator. Left driver window regulator failed Aug 2011. Vw will not cover regulator, or labor of $375. 00 to repair. Vw knew these parts would fail and had issued a tech bulletin to this effect with no notice to owner! failed parts are known by vw as failure parts, cost to customer for known bad parts is extreme.
2006 vw Beetle loses power when driving. This has happened at least fifteen to twenty times. Car taken to vw dealership service six times for repair. Twice while under the new car manufactures warranty. They have tried to fix the problem, but have not as it still happens. We no longer drive the car. Vw of America has been notified. Fortunately no one has been injured as we have been able to pull off on to the shoulder. Just hired a lawyer as vw's position is it's my problem.
Engine and transmission overheating just a terrible car. Wax material interior removes easily with nails children can eat it has crayola smell. Should have been made of plastic or vinyl. This whole car should be recall. Epc brake switch always on had it repaired 3 times engine light is always on. Bad electrical. Interior ac light is always off. In and out of mechanic.
I bought a 1998 Volkswagen Beetle from torrance Nissan on 5 January, 2003: since the date of purchase, this car had been overheating off and on. I returned it to the dealership but was informed that it was nothing to worry about. ? they went as far as taking it to a vw service rep on 5 and 6 January, 2003 for confirmation. I found out later that vw has no record of ever servicing or even seeing the vw until 1 April, 2003! during the months of February and March, 2003 I still experienced the vehicle overheating and each time I called amir, I would follow up with a visit to torrance Nissan. Their replies were always the same, they could not find a problem for the overheating? there were many times I told the dealership that I no longer wanted this car and even submitted it in writing on 15 April, 2003. On 1 April, 2003 I took the Beetle to Volkswagen myself and had it fixed, but the water pump broke again and was replaced on 4-9-03. Three days later, the car was getting hot. I told both Volkswagen and torrance Nissan that I no longer want this car! I have proof of all the repairs performed and still it overheats! on 12 April, 2003 I took the car once more to Volkswagen to thoroughly check it out and they called their technical support. A few days later they found a cracked head on the engine block. To top it off, I had a car accident on 28 April, 2003 on my way to work and had to be towed to the long beach Honda body shop. Later that night the car caught fire and was burned down with 3 other cars in the body shop. Before the car caught fire, I was in process of a valid claim under the lemon law & magnuson-moss warranty act with the adam krohn of the consume law center. Issues: rental car $1,607. 78 (my insurance only covered $600. 00, my insurance covered only actual value of $10,788. 31; leaving me with a balance of $1,043. 00 out-of-pocket. Which my insurance informs me make a claim against the body shop for difference on balance and $ 1007. 78 of the car rental.
The water pump has a part that goes into the engine; it's made of plastic and called an impeller. It is part of the water pump. The plastic impeller disintegrated, causing the engine to overheat. The engine light on the dashboard came on just minutes before the engine ceased up. Other than that, there was no warning that the engine was running hot. Normally when a water pump goes out, the water leaks out. In this case, the water remained in and did not circulate. Repairer has asked owner for money to replace the engine entirely. Vw will not stand by its manufacturer's warranty, which the owner has. The plastic impeller is a common design defect which vw knows has a short life, but they keep designing their vws with a plastic impeller!.
Vehicle caught on fire, possible engine failure, while driving the vehicles brake system failed and the driver had to use the emergency brake to stop vehicle. The head light malfunctioned and the vehicles is flling apart after one month of ownership. The dealer refused to fix it.
While driving the car I noticed the speedometer & odometer weren't working (mileage froze at 26,139). The gas gauge was not working either. Then the check engine light came on and the airbag light. Brought into dealership and was told there were 19 failures when it was tested on their computer. Dealership claims the transmission needs parts replaced. (will be covered under powertrain warranty possibly). Still waiting on parts. They said after they replace parts of transmission they will let me know what else needs to be done and how much it will cost me. The standard warranty ended March 2001. The vehicle has low mileage (26,139). The battery had to be replaced last year. Many times the car wouldn't start and had to be jumped. The check engine light came on the first year I had the car and the dealership claimed it was a sensor problem.
After driving car for an hour the engine light came on,. Dealer took car to check it out and in doing which damage the car further by denting passenger fender and bumper. Failed to tell me about this, however engine light was fixed (O2) sensor.
Complete failure of unit. Seems to be a very comman problem in new vw's. No safety defect listed.
Problem with the 'engine check light'. First came on at about 3k miles. Dealer spent four hours and made a comment about the fault code being associated with the idle speed (yeah right). They fooled with it , reset the computer and sent me away. Now it's back on again. I have noticed that the light goes out but then re-appears again. It's back to the dealer again. If anyone has an absolute solution, I'd love to know so I can tell the dealer what to look for.
This vehicle has been nothing but problems from the start. When the vehicle was purchased about three weeks afterwards, if you hit a bump the hubcaps would come flying off. This would happen going at the speed of 25mph. I've taken it back to the dealer for service. They said that was a problem with the new models. They replaced the hubcaps, but the problem would continuously happen. Finally I took it back again for service and demanded that this problem be fixed. So far they are all changed and it hasn't occured again. Between these problems a total of 5 hubcaps have been replaced. The other problems, are the steering wheel would knock and make loud noises. The first time it was brought in, I was told that there was nothing wrong with the car, and that the car was classified as safe. It started happening again, and they looked and said it was a "defect" in that years model. So they replaced it, "because my car was still under guarantee". This problem has started all over again, I took it in for service just recently and they said it's because of the damp weather we've been having. Just yesterday I brought the car in for turning off on the middle of the highway. The service center was not helpful. They would not give me a loaner and would not even give me a ride home or work because I worked in the bronx. My car is still not ready, and the comment was when I called if my car would be ready today was, "well you could take it back the way you brought it in. " great customer service. I've have been very unhappy with the car and the service center. I was told that this problem was nothing that I had caused, it is again another "defect" and it will be replaced free of charge only because I'm still under warranty until 8/27/00. He said I was lucky it happend now than later. But, explain something to me, if it is what they call a "defect" aren't they supposed to fix it anyway?.
Multiple problems with car since purchase.
While driving engine check light and temperature light came on. Then smoke came from under the hood. When this happened, car had to be towed to nearest vw dealer. Dealer said that both electric fans needed to be replaced. There was a kink in the wire of one of the fans that caused it to fail. Both fans basically melted and blew apart.
While driving vehicle stalls out and engine completely shuts down, also engine check light illuminates.
The malfunction indicator lamp "mil" comes on all the time and stays on. Vehicle has been to dealership seven times. He hasn't solved the problem. The yellow light came on and went out several times at different mileage. The dealer kept telling the customer it is okey to drive it. But the customer does not feel safe.
My 1998 bug has burned approx. 1 quart of oil every 1000 miles, dealership reported this as normal? don't think so. I have also replaced the headlights every six months until the switch on the emergency brake for the daytime runnings lamps broke. I open the car door (still in warranty) and the handle fell off in my hands. Fog light had moisture in it, now both have fallen out. Both door hinges broke. You cannot open doors and shut them, I had to climb in and out of the windows to get into the car. The trunk latch had to be repaired, it wouldn't open. The gas latch is broken and doesn't hinge, the glove box hinges don't work, the compartment above the clock doesn't hinge properly. The radio turns itself off, the temp read out in the car fades in and out, something on the transmission broke and I only had 2nd and 3rd gear, I have replaced the oxygen sensors twice, my air bag light is on, I have been told I need a new seat to correct this, even though it is due the the electrical problems every bug seems to have. Hub cap has fallen off several times. I have lost antifreeze, but no one seems to be able to find out where ii's going. I'm sure there is more, but this car constantly has so many things wrong with it, I can't keep up anymore. Unfortunately the dealerships are the only people who can't seem to see all the cronic problems with this vehicle.
Dashboard gauges/indicators malfunctioned, air bag light, tripometer etc. Yh.
Problems with vehicle's instrument panel and radio. The instrument panel had to be replaced twice. The radio operated on it's own and the windows rolled down on their own. The consumer was unable to use the power controls to. He wrote a letter to the vw dealership and has not received any response. The car was taken and auctioned off. The consumer was trying to find a way to make sure Volkswagen be held accountable. The consumer also stated the odometer rolled up approximately 9000 miles, the dealer ran a computer check but found nothing wrong with the vehicle.
The consumer stated that after 2 months after the windows were repaired, everytime he turned on the vehicle, a loud beeping noise would sound and a flashing red light appeared.
Shortly after I bought the vehicle, engine"check light came on and stayed on. Also, cd player was not operating correctly and temperature display (by rear view mirror) did not work. Took in to dealer's svc dept. Many times, but problems persited . Dealer svc. Dept. Claimed everything working fine. Recently, the window on the driver side failed and it would not go up. Took car in to dealer svc. Dept. And got repaired. Shortly after that, car died. It was not the battery, so car was towed to dealer service dept. On 8-14-02. Dealer examined car and said it was the tri-lock system and didn't know how to fix it. Tri-lock system removed by dealer but car still not working. Problem: power windows did not work, push window button and trunk would pop open, air bag light stayed on, etc. Etc. Etc. The car has been at dealeship for over a week and dealer keeps telling me it's fixed, but when I go pick it up (3 times), the car is still doing the same thing, and the air bag light is still on all the time. Very frustrated and disappointed.