Other Fuel System Pump problems of the 2009 Volkswagen Touareg

Driving on the interstate a fault light started flashing "engine fault service now" along with the glow plug light. I put the transmission into neutral and moved into the slow lane. The engine immediately stopped. I put on my hazard lights and was able to allow it to roll it a safe place to pull over. The dealership said the high pressure fuel pump failed (hpfp) which caused the engine to immediately stop. Luckily I was in an area where I could roll to a safe place and wasn't pulling a trailer like we often do. I was also lucky I was in an area with cell reception. I had spent most of the day driving in a remote area that wouldn't have had reception.

As I was driving, the vehicle suddenly flashed a system malfunction on the dash and stated service needed to be performed immediately. As I was pulling over to side, the vehicle instantly stalled out and turned off. My steering was compromised and I had no ablity to turn the vehicle back on or move the shiftter into neutral to get out of traffic. I towed the vehicle to the dealer who after inspection did not immediately know the reason. They reached out to vw of America who confirmed with them an entire fuel system replacement was in order as a result of a failed fuel pump. This would have been a much more dangerous situation if I was on a major highway or going at a faster speed. The fact that it was daylight out and on a straight flat road greatly assisted me in staying safe. If this had occurred on a busy intersection or high speed roads or curves the outcome could have been much different.

While driving down the road from my home, I was coming up to a stop sign for a high speed road. While slowing down the vehicle completely died and I had loss of all power. Brakes were extremely hard to press and stop the vehicle as well as steering (loss of power brakes and power steering). The car rolled passed the stop sign and half way into the intersection as I firmly pressed the brake pedal down. I attempted to start it again but it only cranked and would not start. The intersection is on the other side of a hill making it difficult to see the intersection. I immediately put on my flashers (which wouldn't do good from the traffic on the road) but then put it in neutral. I was able to roll back enough, out of the way. Under a minute, I was out of the way (for the most part). A semi and a few additional cars come up the hill about 10 seconds of me getting the car rolled back, out of the way. I may have very well been hit by a semi going 55+ mph. I find myself very lucky I wasn't struck by another vehicle and injured or even possibly killed. I had to have the vehicle to the vw dealership. I'm told the high pressure fuel pump went out causing no fuel pressure and took out the entire fuel system. This caused the car to stall and was unable to restart. Vehicle is a 2009 Touareg v6 tdi (turbo diesel).