Clutch Pedal/linkage problems of the 2005 Volkswagen Jetta

The contact owns a 2005 Volkswagen Jetta. The contact stated that the clutch and the pedal went completely to the floorboard when depressed. The vehicle was towed to a mechanic for inspection who stated that the dms needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified and stated that the vehicle was not included in any recalls. The failure mileage was 69,000.

On 11/11/09, I parked my car on my apartment complex parking lot. I left my car in first gear as a safety measure. Next morning (11/12/09) I tried to start my car, but the car was locked in first gear even after pressing the pedal clutch. The car did not turn on but stalled and move slightly forward. Fortunately I had the hand break on. If I did not have the parking break on, I would have moved forward into a bush in front of my parking lot space. I turned off the car, switched to neutral gear and turn the car on. The car turned on and I thought I solved the problem. I put the car on reverse, to exit my parking lot space and again the car stalled and moved backwards. Fortunately there were no car or people behind me. At that point I realized that I could not engage the car into any gear and that the clutch was not functioning. My car is only 4 years old with only 46,000 miles and there is no reason why the clutch would fail so early in life. I read in many forums that the 05-06 vw Jetta has a defective clutch and it could be hazardous for people if the clutch fails while driving. My clutch did not give me any signal of wear and tear, no sounds or difficulty while driving, it was working very well one day and next day it broke down. When I took the car to the dealer, the service manager expected to be a small fix, since the clutch was normally operating on 11/11/09 and it suddenly failed on 11/12/09. After a review, the dealer is charging me $2200, because they need to replace the clutch, the flywheel and the pressure plate. It appears that a vw faulty product is the cause of the failure, but vw does not recognize their mistake.

Thursday Aug 14, 2008 I was exiting off the highway rt 9 exit 5 in CT. The exit is at the top of a hill so I depressed the clutch and coasted to the bottom. My car is a 2005 new Jetta with 2. 5l 5 cyl 5 speed manual. I have about 70,000 miles on the car and have never had any problems with the clutch or transmission. As I started coasting I shifted the car to second gear near the beginning of the exit but didn't release the clutch. I heard a load bang sound and the clutch engaged. The car immediately nose dived and the engine raced to redline. The clutch peddle was on the floorboard and was not functioning. I had to lockup the brakes to force the car out of gear and coasted to the stop sign at the bottom of the hill. I was lucky that no one was following me at the time as I would have rearended for sure. At the stop sign the clutch pedal came up off the floor at the clutch partially work so I drove the car to the commuter parking lot and left it to be towed to the dealer the next morning. Friday at the dealership they said they would fix it but they don't cover wear and tear on clutch parts. The bill would be about 2400. 00 dollars. Because I had 70000 miles on the car I would have to see the parts before I could make that judgment as to wear and tear. So I told them to fix it but I want the parts. The final bill came to 2164. 71 dollars. The pressure plate and flywheel showed no signs of abuse or burning. The clutch had plenty of pad left but was broken due to the force of engaging at 60 mile per hour in second gear. The mechanics reason for failure was "pressure plate blew out" and my boss a mechanical engineer said it look like a catastrophic failure not a wear issue. I don't know why vw get to wash their hands of this under a came of they don't cover clutch parts under warranty and why I have to pay for it. If this could happen on a highway it could also have happen at a stop light.