Side/window Air Bag Problems of Volkswagen GTI - part 1

The car, a 2001 vw Gti 1. 8t, was being driven at low (residential street -- 25 mph or less) speeds and made a right turn. The right rear wheel probably grazed the curb, or possibly hit a pothole. The passenger side airbag and side curtain airbag deployed. The car lost power, possibly due to the engine stalling (it's a manual) though that's not certain. The dealer service department inspected the car and they confirm there is no damage other than the (substantial!) damage of the airbag deployment. Fortunately there was nobody in the passenger seat and traffic was minimal so no one was injured. It seems as though a curb or pothole hit should not have been enough to cause airbag deployment. The car has very low mileage, less than 60,000, and has been well-maintained.

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Tl-the contact owns a 2013 Volkswagen Gti. The contact stated that (the driver her son) was driving at unknown speeds and over corrected for unknown reasons and crashed into a pole. The driver sustained frontal lobe damage dislocation of spine, vertebrae and aorta damage , as well as lacerations. The driver died at the scene. The occupant of the passenger seat sustained broken ribs , head and eye damage medical attention was provided. The driver's frontal air bag, passenger's frontal and side air bag deployed. There was no fire due to the crash. The vehicle was towed to a independent mechanic. The vehicle was deemed a total loss by the insurance company. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 77,000. Ap.

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2001 vw Gti passenger side airbag inadvertantly deployed. Side seat airbag and headliner deployed. Dashboard airbag did not. No accident occured. Deployment was when car was driving on a highway, straight road, no bumps, no turns, no potholes, no debris on road, no impact with anything. No idea why airbags deployed.

Air bag light has come on with no accident. The readings are three major intermittent issues. It seems this is an issue for many owners of this year and model. The vw dealership refuses to guarantee any of the fixes to the problem which can total in cost $1200 - $1500. I have been told by an employee at the dealership this has been a problem for many models around the same year. Why has this safety issue not been addressed? please help those of us who own these cars have this problem addressed since many of us cannot pass state inspections and this is unsafe.

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Driving to school and was about to pull into the school when I was cut off, swerved out of the way and went on to the curb at an angle to where it only hit the front right tire. I quickly came down and my side curtain airbags deployed. I was going about 30 but slowed down to about 10 mph right before impact. I have hit potholes harder and nothing happens. Seems like a clear malfunction my friend was hit by the airbag, but suffered no serious injuries. The only exterior damage was that I got a leak in my right front tire and had to get it replaced.

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Driver side air bags deployed while I was driving 70mph down I 75 n in ohio. I did not hit, clip or graze another vehicle. Clear malfunction, have pictures to prove it. Luckily it was 5:30am Monday August 4th, 2008 and there were few cars on the road.

The contact owns a 2002 Volkswagen Gti. While driving 55 mph, the passenger side air bag suddenly deployed. The contact was injured. There was no crash or impact. The vehicle is parked at the contact's residence and has not been inspected by a mechanic. The failure and current mileages were 70,000. Updated 05/19/08 the consumer stated Volkswagen still has the vehicle after 3 months, they have not been able to get the parts. Updated 05/20/08.

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The contact owns a 2007 Volkswagen Gti. When a passenger is seated in the front passenger seat, the air bag sensor light constantly illuminates and displays "passenger side air bag is off". The dealer stated that the wiring harness needed to be replaced. The replacement was made, but the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer and the seat tensioner was replaced. The failure persisted as well. While driving less than 60 mph, the check engine light illuminated on the instrument panel. The weather stripping on the passenger side was replaced three times, in addition to the sunroof once. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer for repairs. The failure mileage was 10,000 and current mileage was 41,000.

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The contact owns a 2002 Volkswagen Gti. While driving 75-80 mph, the side air bags deployed without warning and the vehicle lost complete power. As of December 13, 2007, the dealer had not inspected the vehicle. The current and failure mileages were 67,000. Updated 3/4/08 the dealer decided to fix the vehicle at their expense.

Airbag malfunction. This is the 5th time the passenger side, side-air-bag attenuator on my 1999 vw Gti (new Gti) has needed service. First time was just after car went off warranty. Vw regional agreed to pay. About 18 months later, same problem -- had to call vw regional to mount the case for them to pay, and they did. 11 months later, same problem. Dealership paid for repair saying it was covered by their 12mo/12k mile service warranty. 11 months later -- same problem, dealer paid. Now, 5 months later, airbag light on again. Same problem.

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I was traveling down a highway at 60 mph. Suddenly without impact both the drivers side curtain airbag and drivers seat side airbag deployed, for no reason. What made it even more scary is that it turned off my car while coasting at highway speeds, also disoriented me. Was able to barely turn the car to an off ramp with out a wreck resulting. Nothing has been replaced at this time.

I was driving on the highway in my 2002 Volkswagen Gti when suddenly the side and curtain airbags deployed for no reason at all. I did not hit a pothole, rock, or any object of any kind. The engine then shut off but I managed to safely move my car to the right lane. As a result of the airbag deployment I suffered minor burns and a sore back. I called Volkswagen of America and they immediately began telling me it was not their fault and that I must have hit something. They advised me to bring the Gti into the nearest dealership to check for damage. The dealership inspected the car and found no damage. The technician told me there was no reason for the airbags to have deployed. He then sent that information to Volkswagen of America. Two day later they called me to ask me to once again bring the car into the dealership so that a representative could inspect the car. I will be bringing the car in tomorrow. I have researched this problem on the internet and found that this is a problem that has been reported over 400,000 times. It does not seem that Volkswagen is going to pay to fix the problem since my car is no longer under warranty. I am now pursuing a class action suit against Volkswagen of America. I am absolutely stunned that Volkswagen of America can get away with not taking responsibility for their manufacture defects. I will never own another vw again, and I will do all that I can to discourage anybody I know from purchasing a Volkswagen. These claims need to be taken seriously, and something needs to be done about it before serious injury, or even death, occurs.

As I was driving home from visiting my parents in louisiana over the holidays. I was getting onto 45/75 going north from interstate 30w here in dallas, TX. As I cross over the lanes, I hear a really loud pop. There was a large flash and the car filled with smoke. I was really surprised, which caused me to swerve to miss another car. I had no idea what went wrong. My first assumptions were that either I blew a tire or that someone had shot a firearm at my vehicle. I pulled over downtown and inspected the vehicle. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the exterior of my vehicle (tires were fine and I did not hit anything). For some reason my passenger side upper front and rear air bags deployed as did the side air bag in the seat. I have no idea why this happened and have never had any issues with the airbags. I am very happy and fortunate that I did not have a passenger in my car at the time and that I did not get into an accident. I am reporting this to vwoa.

Was driving the speed limit down interstate 5 in washington, adhering to the speed limit. When my passenger curtain airbag and side seat air bag deployed for no apparent reason. It is a 2003 Volkswagen Gti. My friend sitting in the passenger seat was bruised up rather neatly.

I was making a left turn across a major highway. Pulled into the lane of traffic when an oncoming car moved into my lane. I was traveling around 20 mph, and consequently slowed to approximately 10 mph. In avoiding the car I turned left and the drivers side of the car hit a curb. The car drove up onto the curb and then quickly off of it. It was not a direct impact, the curb was hit at an angle. The curtain and side airbags both fired on the driver side. There was no significant deceleration, and I have hit pothole harder than this impact and the airbags did not deploy. The car is currently begin evaluated by my local dealer.

Spontaneous airbag deployment 8-10-05 I was driving alone down a boulevard at 35 mph when I heard a loud noise like a gunshot from my right side. The side curtain airbags had deployed on the passenger side leaving me with an ear ache, as well as interior full of smoke and debris. Worst of all, the engine stopped running. I coasted about 200 feet then turned onto a side street. I'm fortunate that I did not come into contact with any other vehicles or pedestrians. I did not hit a pothole, rut, curb or anything else. I was driving down a well-traveled smooth road in denver (south broadway). The airbags just deployed for no apparent reason. After gathering my wits and airing out the car, I restarted it and drove directly to my local vw service facility. The next day, my service advisor said the mechanic saw evidence of an impact on the side of the frame. I explained that the car was on smooth pavement when this happened. I also mentioned that 18 months ago I had hit a square-edged rut in the road that caused some rim damage to the front-right wheel and also caused a tire impact separation (bubble). Perhaps this is the impact mark that the mechanic detected. I gave this statement to vwoa at my advisor's request. I explained that this is a safety problem and should be covered under warranty as the car is less than 4 years old and under 50,000 miles. My local service advisor called me back to say that a supervisor will determine how to proceed with repairs. Evidently, this is not automatically a warranty item. Vwoa needs to step up and fully investigate this matter and take preventive actions immediately. There are several vw owners in my immediate family. We are all very concerned about the airbag safety of this vehicle even after repairs are completed.

I was driving at 15 mph and hit a pothole. All of a sudden my passenger side airbags deployed along with the passanger side seat airbag. There is no damage to the car what so ever. There was no reason for the airbags to deploy imagine airbags depolying every time someone ran over a pothole. . Read more...

While driving, the rear left tire went flat. There was a nail in the tire, which may have been the cause of the flat tire. Also the drivers side air bag deployed. There was no collision and the vehicle didn't swerve. Consumer sustained injury, she has a burn on her upper arm. Vehicle was a Volkswagen, Gti, 2001. She went to the dealership and they said they couldn't do anything; she would have to go directly to the manufacturer. There was no damage done underneath of the vehicle.

I own a 2002 Volkswagen Gti. I was at afull stop on an intersection making a right turn, and as soon I turned,my passenger side curtain airbag and seat airbag exploded. They did not even do what it suppose to do, the airbags just exploded! I took it to hammer lane Volkswagen here in stockton but they told me that it is not under warranty because they found a small dent under my car. They were trying to tell me that it was the cause why they deployed. They were telling me that I ran over something at the time of the incident. I searched on the internet and found that 107 complaints to NHTSA on 2001-2003 golf, Gti, and jetta that side-impact airbags were activited improperly. I printed that page, showed it to them and asked them for an explaination, but could not give me any specific answer that I need. I was also asking for an explaination why my airbags did not deploy when I ran over something about two weeks ago before the incident, on the driver side which caused a big dent underneath? this is really ridiculos what happened to me. They are trying to charge me about $4,000. 00 for the damage and labor. They suggested to just call my insurance "maybe " they will pay for the damage. I hope this won't happen to those people whose driving these cars. Thank you very much for your time reading my complaint.

Consumer bumped a curb causing minor wheel scraping and deployment of side impact airbags (drivers curtain and seat). Resulting repair total in excess of $4,000.

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Bumped a curb and side impact air bags deployed. No physical damage to vehicle other than scraped wheels and deployed air bags. Engine no longer starts on first key turn. Taken to insurer recommended shop to have airbags and all related components replaced. Engine still not starting on first key turn.

Consumer was driving at 5 mph and struck a pot hole and side door air bags deployed. Also, side window malfunctioned, and seat recliner broke.

The consumer was coming out of a toll booth at approximately 45 mph and passenger's side airbag deployed for no reason, resulting in minor injuries. The a/c was inoperative, the passenger side window dropped and would not close, the coil was a problem and the cooling fan had broken.

This is a complaint for a 2002 Volkswagen Gti. While I was driving, the passenger side curtain, pillar, and seat airbags all deployed. There is no damage at all to the vehicle. I contacted Volkswagen to repair the car under their warranty but they refuse to repair the vehicle under the warranty since they claim that there is crush data stored in the vehicle computer. My wife who was sitting in the passenger seat has her leg bruised because of the airbag deployment. This is a very serious safety issues since the airbag deployment made a very loud noise,and fill the car in "white powder". This almost cause an accident in itself because of the noise and the ringing in my ear for the next minute or so. This is also not the first case of this kind of airbag deployment. I research on the web after in incident and found people who have similar experience in a vehicle of the same model and other Volkswagen vehicle. . Read more...

Side airbag (passenger) deployed upon impact with a pothole with the front drivers side wheel.

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Side impact airbags deployed without any collision or reason.

While driving 55mph on I-65 in ky side airs bags inadvertently deployed without any impact or collision. Managed to get to emergency lane without any accident. Brought to dealership. At first, dealership denied fault, but after several inspections concluded that no collision or impact occurred. Dealership needed approval from vwoa to fix under warranty. Air bag specialist sent out from vwoa to inspect. Car is currently at dealership still waiting on decision.

While driving on the highway the two passenger side air bags deployed without the consumer hitting or running over anything. The consumer usually has three children in the vehicle, luckily none were in the vehicle at the time of the incident. The manufacturer and the dealer are aware of the problem.

Hit a curb at a low rate of speed ( less than 5mph) and driver side side impact air bag deployed. Only external damage to car was flat tire.

I was driving my 2002 vw Gti vr6 on a semi-rough section of the parks highway in alaska at approx. 30-35 mph when the passenger side airbags suddenly deployed. The road was no worse than a maintained gravel road, there was no "crash" or accident, and I didn't hit a pothole. The dealer looked at my otherwise mint condition and undamaged car and said that the computer had "crash data" and possible gravel dings on the undercarriage (which could have occurred at anytime in the past 10 months I have owned this vehicle as I frequently drive on maintained gravel roads). It was the technician's belief that these minor gravel dings on the undercarriage should not have caused the airbags to release and that the airbag replacements would most likely be covered under warranty, but it was vw's ultimate decision. My insurance adjustor said basically the same thing as minor dings to the undercarriage are expected as normal wear and tear and told the dealership that they were stretching it when they came up with a possible explanation. Vw headquarters came back and said since there is "crash data" in the computer and the car has small dings on the undercarriage, it was not covered under warranty as it was a crash. I think vw is missing the point by saying that since there is "crash data" in the computer, the airbags are my problem. The real question is should the airbags have deployed under these conditions? the dealer techs say no, my passenger and I say no, and my insurance and their investigator says no. This airbag deployment almost caused an accident and resulted in my passenger being bruised.

The driver side seat and side curtain airbags deployed on my 2002 Volkswagen Gti 337 edition for no readily apparent reason. This left me with a ringing ear, sore shoulder, and in a very shaken state. The dealership that I took the car to for factory repair at first agreed that there was no damage to indicate any sort of accident. Two days later a factory engineer (apparently from vwoa) examined the car and found a nick in a metal beam. This nick (smaller than a dime) is apparently what caused the airbags to deploy. The dealership has stated that my insurance would have to cover the repairs as they are not under warranty because of this nick. I'm currently in the process of filing a claim through the bbb auto line. They have a process through mediation and arbitration that will hopefully resolve my situation without having to resort to a lawsuit. I strongly feel that they should have taken care of the repair without question, especially considering the dangerous nature of airbag deployment.

Side airbags deployed after hitting pot hole. . . No damage to exterior of car tire was bubbled slightly. . .

Consumers son was driving the vehicle. While pulling away from the stop sign, hitting a minor pot hole, all the airbags in the vehicle deployed. There was a loud gun shot-like explosion, white powder filled the vehicle. The vehicle was driven to mag for immediate inspection. Mag determined that the interior was significantly damaged. A Volkswagen representative investigated the situation and the judgement was for the the expense for repairs be Volkswagen's. A total of fifteen to twenty parts were required for repair.

I was driving my company car (golf Gti 1. 8t - mi license vvd 493) along 86th street in indianapolis, in on Saturday 25th may 2002 with mr dario rossi (sales manager of magneti marelli motorsports) sitting in the passenger seat; when crossing ditch rd at about 20 mph I hit a pothole that was not signaled with the right front wheel and the two side airbags on the passenger's side went off (from the passenger seat and from the roof), hitting mr. Rossi. Also the ignition cut off and shut down the engine.

While driving I encountered an uneven spot in the road ( like a pothole) and the airbags on the right side of the car ( side airbag and side curtain) deployed. The problem is that it was not a significant impact to the car. There is no damage to the car other than the airbags now requiring replacement. Even the alaignment seems fine although the dealer is checking it out to be sure. I believe the airbag sensor was defective (too sensitive) and should not have deployed the airbag. When the airbags are deployed (for no apparent good reason) it is obviously distracting to the driver and can create a dangerous situation. For me it was downright scary. I thought someone shot at the car. The dealer seems perplexed as to why the bags would have deployed without an impact significant enough to damage the car. Now, even though I didn't wreck the car, I and my insurance company are left with the cost of repairs on a component that I believe was defective and caused this whole mess.