Ignition Switch problems of the 2008 Volkswagen Jetta

Ignition switch was stuck in the on position with the engine running. The car was stopped and in park in a driveway. But this failure could have easily occurred inside a garage. The car was successfully turned off after breaking the plastic key transmitter and forcing the key with pliers. Others may not have the strength or tools to force this to turn off. I'm concerned that this could occur and the engine not being able to be turn off could start a fire or produce CO poisoning in a closed environment. Part failures such as this should fail in a safe mode. This is clearly not a safe failure mode.

The contact owns a 2008 Volkswagen Jetta. The contact stated that when the vehicle was placed into park, the key would not release from the ignition switch. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and was diagnosed that the ignition switch needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 67,000.

The car's own keys could not be inserted into the ignition. The dust cap inside the ignition cylinder/ switch was blocking the key from entering. The steering wheel was locked because of the ignition key not able to enter the ignition switch. Also the transmission could not be moved from parking because of the above reason. As a result, we were all stranded on the road for several hours because the car keys could not be inserted to the ignition. Had to tow the car to vw dealership and the dealers wanted to change the entire ignition switch. Later found out that it can happen to any vw Jetta because of the way the cylinder has been designed by vw and vwoa does not want to make any recall and change this design. Please note that the car is only 4 years old, used only by me very gently, and the ignition switch design is faulty.