Transmission Solenoid Problems of Volkswagen New Beetle Convertible

I have a 2005 beetle convertible, never in an accident - up to date on all maintenance with only 64,450 miles on it. A week or so the transmission started slipping so I took it to my mechanic. He was hoping it was a solenoid, and an easy fix but it turns out that the transmission needs a rebuild. He called his transmission specialist who said - 'I won't even touch a beetle, it's like putting on another wedding ring. You get tied to these cars' I have had several small issues with the car, and one big issue which my dealership took care of during my warranty period so I had been satisfied with vw's response at least in the past, but a lightly driven automatic transmission should not be failing 4500 miles outside the cars warranty. . And the fact that transmission specialists recognize this as a frequent and recurring problem with the model makes me think there is cause for recall. Searching for beetle transmission prompts message boards with hundreds of entries on the topic and in many cases, people are in the 'just over 60,000 mile' category I fall under. . Read more...

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Near-miss but no traffic collision due to unexpected jerkiness, loss of power transfer to drive wheels, with associated revving of engine of 2003 vw New Beetle Convertible with automatic transmission, while I tried entering traffic stream on a busy street. Symptoms were intermittent for 9 months; now present whenever vehicle warmed up after 3 miles driving; vehicle not used for past 9 mo. Volkwagen dealer advises "replace transmission". Valve body failure in 6-speed tiptronic (aisin-warner 09g) automatic transmission causes hard upshifts and downshifts and lapses in power transfer, resulting in unsafe situations when merging onto freeway or into heavy traffic, for example. The 6 electrically controlled valves and associated solenoids in this transmission gradually wear out, typically soon after the Volkswagen 5-year, 60000-mile powertrain warranty expires. The problem is traceable to defective design of the combination of aluminum valve bores, shift valves which cause wear in the bores, faulty solenoids, and shift programming which relies on frequent electrically activated movement of the valves to modulate and produce smooth shifts between gears. The consequence of continuing to drive the car can be complete transmission failure, which may occur unexpectedly and place the driver in a dangerous situation if unable to pull off the roadway, or if failure occurs while attempting to merge or execute normal driving manuevers. In my case, the transmission operates well for the first 3 miles, but not when warmed up. Volkswagen of America announced a warranty extension on the "valve body only" for the 09g model transmissions, for a specific 7 years from vehicle-in-service date or 100,000 miles, whichever occurs first. I will have the valve body replaced by an independent transmission shop, using genuine vw parts, as vwofa has declined to repair my transmission or replace it completely unless I am willing to pay for a new transmission. The used parts will be saved.

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