general problems of the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta - part 2

I am having what I believe to be a serious, but intermittent, safety problem with my 2011 Jetta sportwagon tdi. There is also what may be a related issue with the automatic transmission shifting at low speed. Occasionally when I attempt to accelerate away from a stop sign/traffic light, the engine does not respond to throttle movement. When I take my foot off the brake and press on the gas pedal the car moves ahead under what I believe is idle power but as I try to accelerate, it is like the gas pedal is not connected to the engine. The engine is running but won't rev and move the car. I usually end up about a third of the way into the intersection with a car that is seemingly stalled (engine still running however). The car behind me then has to brake and if I happened to be trying to cut into moving traffic, I am now a target for the cross traffic. I reported this to selling dealer service department early in my ownership experience of this car and was told don't worry about it, that is normal, it's a transmission thing. Perhaps there is a link to the transmission and as I mentioned earlier, this is a problem area as well. When driving slowly, around 20-25 miles per hour, the transmission can't seem to decide what gear it should be in. It keeps bouncing back and forth between gears causing a very uncomfortable surging. The surging part I can work around by shifting to sport mode. This mode might also help the acceleration problem but I don't have good experience yet to confirm.

This 2011 vw sportwagen tdi (diesel)would easily stall in first gear. Since the first test drive we were told at the dealership, this manual transmission takes getting used to. I have a friend who owns a 2011 golf tdi with a similar issue. However, even though I became more accustomed to driving it, I would still stall in first gear. . . Sometimes in intersections. I mentioned this to the service advisor, during several service visits and I was told it was just the way these cars are. Every time a service advisor would test drive my car they'd stall it. They never looked into it. At 89,000 the dual mass flywheel had to be replaced. At this point the car was out of warranty. I went to and independent mechanic (that I trusted)and asked him to not only replace the dual mass flywheel, but the clutch plate and throw out bearing as well. He said the clutch plate and throw out bearing looked fine. I said since we have this apart I don't want to take any chances. Since replacing the parts with original vw parts it drives like a normal manual transmission car should. . . I no longer stall this car in 1st gear. One can check on line and see other people are having similar problems. Besides the expense it is also dangerous. I'm surprised there isn't a recall on this issue. On September 19th I spoke to the service manager at flynn vw, and asked his advice about dealing with vw and he reiterated that the manual transmissions on the diesels (tdi) were like that. He stated he still stalls when driving the diesel vws. However he said the gas engines didn't seem to stall like the diesels.

I have experienced dramatic hesitation while, from slow speed, trying to accelerate quickly onto a main road with heavy traffic. The dsg cannot figure out which gear it needs to be in and either hesitates or goes into what seems to be neutral, the engine high reves. The Jetta just comes to a stand still in the middle of the road as the computer tries to decide what gear it needs to be in. The hesitation is pronounced enough that I fear I wouldn't be able to get out of someone?s way if I had to. This is most definitely a safety concern. I work in the boston area and you need to be able to get into fast moving traffic quickly. This happens on a daily basis and has been happening since I purchased the car in January of 11. I have reported this to the dealer numerous times and they said they are aware of the problem. One of the service advisor's stated that this is a known problem.

From time to time, when depressing the gas pedal to accelerate (entering highway via on ramp, climbing moderate hill or grade, passing slower vehicle) there is initially no acceleration, then a sudden surge of power causing an uncontrolled acceleration.