Automatic Transmission problems of the 2004 Volkswagen New Beetle

The contact owns a 2004 Volkswagen New Beetle. The automatic transmission would not shift properly and it began clanking, jerking and sometime it failed to shift into gear. The vehicle was driven to a transmission shop where she was told that it was the valve body that needed to be replaced. The vehicle should not be driven without repairing the failure. There were no recalls or warranties regarding the failure. The dealer was called and advised her to bring the vehicle in for diagnostic testing so that they could determine the problem. The Volkswagen manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 55,900.

2004 vw New Beetle with dsg transmission. Car drops into limp mode. Happened on expressway resulting in low speed to get to median. Happens when pulling away from intersection and goes into neutral. Car will not move until engine is stopped and restarted. Above issues happened 4 times over a 3 day period. Not safe to drive. Dsg transmission with the mechatronics unit is rare in 04 beetles. Not included in factory recalls of 07 and up. Had mechatronics unit replaced for $2250. 00 my expense. 80,000 miles on car. 07 and up have warranty extension to 100,000 miles. 04 not included because of low frequency of event. Low frequency because not many around. Car is dangerous and should be covered by warranty same as o7 vw & Audi cars.

Have had transmission issues with my 2004 New Beetle. On 5/12/10, I started having problems with my transmission took the vehicle to the dealer and they stated it was a faulty "turbo recirculation valve" and replaced the part (picked up same day-$250). On 5/18/10, I told them I was still having the same problem with the transmission where the rpms goes up but the speed of the car does not move. . Close to redline. This time the dealer told me the transmission was bad and had to be replaced (picked up on 5/25/10-$4,269). When I received the car I told them the car still did not perform like it should. On 5/26/10, I took the car back to the dealer and now they tell me the transmission controller unit and circuit was faulty and had to be replaced. . . This time it took a while (picked car up on 6/29/10 - $1,888). Around the week of July 9th I called the dealer and told them the car still felt it was slipping at time when the weather was hot and I had been driving in it. On, 7/14/10 I took the car in again to dealer and they had it for a day. . . Now they told me they could not recreate the problem so I picked up the car on 7/15/10. . . No cost this time. They may have made a few tweaks as the car lasted till now 8/07/10 where I had to leave my car at a local post office after driving home from work in a 105 degree heat in texas (I drove about 37 miles). It is just as I suspected I was able to ask my brother to take me to the car in the evening and was able to drive it home. I left a message for the dealership in the afternoon when I had the problems. Thank you for your assistance in this matter to not defraud the consumer by selling them defective vehicles/parts.

The contact owns a 2004 Volkswagen beetle GLS. The contact stated while attempting to accelerate, the vehicle began abnormally jerking while switching gears. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the engine was repaired. The failure recurred within one month. The dealer then replaced the transmission gear box. Shortly after, the headlights and tail lights failed which were also repaired by the dealer. On a separate occasion, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact was able to immediately restart the vehicle. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The failure recurred twice. The vehicle was then towed to the dealer where the contact was awaiting a diagnosis of the failure. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 56,000 and the current mileage was 64,000.

The car went into "limp mode" about 12 miles from home. It dropped into first gear and limped home at 15 mph. Next morning it performed normally. That night started into town, it dumped again down to limp mode, then refused to move at all. Had to dolly it home. Dollied it to dealer a week later. They did the computer scan and said it was the "valve body" on the transmission. Wanted $1700 to replace it. Dollied it back home. Tried to get someone to look at it for a second opinion. No one would touch it. A german in the german air force who worked for vw in germany agreed to work on it. Scan he did indicated "valve body", so he removed that and we tried to order one from the same dealer. The dealer now tells us the part is not available and a new valve body won't fix it anyway. That tells us they have other beetles with the same problem and they couldn't fix those either. Talked to vw of America several times. They were not helpful at all and basically would not cooperate in any way. Not under warranty and they won't do anything. We have since learned that it has a unique transmission used only during 2004 and almost everyone who has a beetle with that transmission has had the same problem. Can't get parts. No one will work on it. Vw of America is aware of these problems and make no effort to help. We would like to find out how to start a class action lawsuit! basically, we have a $16,000 piece of junk that we drove for about a year and it is now completely worthless! recently they told us there were no parts available to fix the transmission.

: the contact stated while placing a cup of coffee into the cup holder, coffee was spilled into the transmission. The cup holder is located right above the clutch. Since this incident, the transmission has progressively worsened. Other than going into the park, drive and reverse mode, the transmission does not operate. The console and check engine lights intermittently illuminate. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where they determined that the problem with the vehicle is due to external factors, not a manufacturers defect. The contact expressed concerns of the location of the cup holder and the transmission playing a significant role in the current transmission problems. .

Intermittently vehicle would hesitate before accelerating forward. Dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem.