Two problems related to driveshaft have been reported for the 2001 Volkswagen Jetta. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2001 Volkswagen Jetta based on all problems reported for the 2001 Jetta.
Right front drive shaft became slightly out of round by about 30 thous. This problem cannot be explained by any regular means except the dealer says we must have hit something . It is virtually impossible to hit the shaft because it is protected . I believe this is metal fatigue that comes from highspeed highway driving as I commute daily about 250 km. The car is only 22 months old but I now have 125,800 km on it. I suspect this problem would have never occured if I was only driving the average 20,000km per year and on the highway from time to time. Dealer was not even interested in contacting volkswagon to see if there was any help available.
Car would make awful high-pitched howling noise at 40mph. Thought it was road noise, dealer said might be driveshaft, changed drive shaft, still howled, changed transmission, now it seems to be ok. Seems many other 2001 vw Jetta's in the s. Florida area experienced same problems because I saw many more Jettas in the repair shop, and most of the vehicle owners I spoke to there said they were getting new transmissions put in. Some were getting their 3rd and 4th changes.