Four problems related to ignition have been reported for the 2001 Volkswagen New Beetle. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2001 Volkswagen New Beetle based on all problems reported for the 2001 New Beetle.
Instrument cluster malfunction: (purchased this used car March 1, 2003. Started noticing problems shortly thereafter, decided to report it after the most current incident and unsuccessful attempts at fixing). - when trying to start the car, it will start then die immediately, I have almost been stranded a few times. I had to keep trying to restart the car until the engine finally stayed running (this has occurred at least 7 times from March 1, 2003 and is getting progressively worse). Could this potentially cause the engine to die while driving? - the seat belt warning buzzer has never functioned during my ownership. - the door buzzer has never functioned during my ownership, not if the lights are left on or if the keys are still in the ignition.
The coil pack on my 2001 Volkswagen New Beetle burned out causing me to practically stall on a very busy freeway. So far, vw doesn't seem to think this a saftey issue yet and will not require a recall on these parts. These coils will burn out. Not if, but when. I would hate to be going up a hill when one of these coil packs go out.
Coil pack failure iin vw New Beetle with 1. 8t engine -- last week, I had my 2nd coil pack failure (the first being in November 2002) while commuting to work on the george washington parkway at about 45 mph. The car suddenly began to shake violently, and I narrowly averted an accident when I had to slow down to 30. Fortunately, I was able to exit safely, and I followed surface streets to the dealer, with the car shuddering whenever my rpm exceeded 2,500. The dealer (alexandria vw) replaced the coil pack the same day, but, after checking with vw of America at my insistence, they refused to replace the remaining two defective coil packs despite their admission that the other two would almost certainly fail in the future. I called vw's complaint line the next day and was told that vw couldn't issue a recall because of insufficient supply of the replacement parts. . Read more...
The 2001. 5, 2002, and certain 2003 vw/Audi 1. 8t engines have experienced a high rate of coilpack failures. This has been reported by the media (autoweek magazine) and detailed on internet message boards at vwvortex. Com, audiworld. Com, newbeetle. Org, and others, in great detail. The current parts shortage is causing owners to wait up to 3 weeks or more. I waited 2 1/2 weeks. Because of this shortage, only the failed coilpacks are being replaced at this time. This leaves the owner with the remaining potentially defective coilpacks that can fail at any time. This is a serious safety issue that warrants a recall. The failed units have been isolated to a certain part number. Previous 1. 8ts that use a coilpack of a slightly different design and produced by a different supplier, have not experienced this high rate of failure. Dt.