Driveshaft problems of the 2004 Volkswagen Touareg

Driving along in a residential neighborhood under slight acceleration and a loud thumping noise begins in the transmission hump under the armrest - felt like something heavy had become wrapped around the driveshaft and was causing intense vibration above 30mph. Park the car and tow to repair shop and learn the drive shaft had broken and required complete replacement. This is a vehicle that has never been offroad and vast majority of miles are commuting on the freeway and general around-town driving. No way should a well-maintained vehicle doing light highway driving suffer a driveshaft failure at only 105k miles. Clearly a defect that the manufacturer should be responsible for. Repair bill was approximately $1600.

While accelerating onto the highway, a loud, repetitious bang/clunk from the middle underside of the vehicle started, sounding similar to a blown tire. No abnormal operations noted prior to this. Limped the car back to the shop at 15 mph and found the center driveshaft carrier bearing failed. The service tech acted as if this was common and was not surprised. I have a 1981 Mercury with over 305000 miles and never lost a bearing in my driveshaft. Mechanical parts fail. The worst part of this event is voa's reaction that somehow they are not responsible for a poor/weak design. List of other major component failures with no recall that are common to all Touaregs of this generation according to the company's own service techs: center differential lock motor fail rear diff. Lock motor fail cooling fans do not shut off, drain battery thermostat housing leak radio failure.

Car: 2004 Volkswagen Touareg v6 SUV 38,900miles problem: car frequently jerks while slowing down (at speeds between 20-40mph). Was told drive shaft was damaged and needed to be replaced at a cost of $1,150 parts plus labor of approx. $1,000 which included computer diagnostic. Upon pick up from mechanic problem still persisted so I took the car back to mechanic. I was told that damaged drive shaft damaged 2 valves in the transmission which now also need replacing at a cost of $1600. I was also told by the mechanic that they had received a 'bulletin" on the car regarding similar complaints about this problem from several owners. This car only has 39,000 miles and is driven with care. It seems extremely premature to have anything of this nature happen especially at a cost of almost $4000 out of pocket to me and other owners. I ask that you please look into Volkswagen's responsibility in correction/reimbursement (possible recall) of this situation.

Rear center drive shaft from gearbox to differential, middle bearing fails. Volkswagen only supplies new shafts for $1,400 no bearings or exchange. This happens to a lot of Touaregs according the clubtouareg forum. This is a premature design failure of this car.

2004 vw Touareg with tire failure and key programming. Consumer states he had to replace the tires due to a puncture in one of the sidewall tires. The second key received needed to be programmed and dealer charged him for programming. The consumer stated he gets low gas mileage. When the vehicle was returned to the consumer, the tire monitoring system would come on and go off repeatedly. The drive shaft was replaced due to a vibration when making turns. The front brakes needed to be replaced.