When feathering the gas pedal through traffic, the car surges/lurches trying to find gear. Also, there are times when pulling out of a side street or taking off from a red light, when pushing on the gas pedal, all of a sudden it seems like there is no power. We bought the car in early '08 and the problem randomly started towards the end of '08. At that time we thought it may have been just bad gas. It seems the problem is getting worse and more frequent as of late. Reading forums and articles online, it seems to be the symptoms of the transmission which is a dsg/s-tronic transmission. At this time, the dealer is stating nothing is wrong with the transmission. I own another car with the same transmission, and that seems to have none of the above problems.
2008 Audi A3 transmission complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 13 of 13, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I have an audi a3 2008 with dsg transmission. I drove it on vacation from columbus ohio to nh about a 15 hr drive. When I was in stop and go traffic the RPM's would dip as I would apply the break causing the car to nearly stall. Every time this happened I had to react quickly as to make sure not to hit the person in front of me. When I would let off the break the car would surge forward causing me to abruptly have to hit the break. I took it to audi and they claim that in hot weather this happens and is a side effect of the mechatronic control unit of the vehicle but that it is not significant enough to replace the unit until it actually fails. This seems to be a huge safety hazard considering I feel like I am taming a wild stallion on the open road. This must be fixed immediately. Help!
Direct shift gearbox (dsg) transmission started jerking when starting from a stop. Second to first downshift would be severe with a loud "clunk" from the dsg. Went to dealer and vehicle was diagnosed with a faulty tcu(mechatronics module). Part is on backorder and will take over 1 month to get in. Was told that vehicle is okay to drive but with the uncertainty of reliable performance and potential damage to other transmission components I don't agree. Have researched and found many other audi and vw owners with this same problem and similar experience with significant delays in getting the replacement part. Apparently vag is focused more on producing new vehicles than making sure the vehicles already on the road are operating properly. This company has no concern for customer service once they have your money.
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