I have 21,500 miles on my 2001 vw beetle, has been in the shop aprox 6 times for the same problem, car hesitates and stalls out as check engine light is a constant on, dealership cannot find the problem, my wife and I were almost killed in vehicle due to stalling out in front of fast moving traffic, I let them know that this vehicle was an endanger to my and my families life while driving and would like this vehicle towed in, and since was an on going problem also needed a rental car and the dealership and volkswagen of america both refused on both accounts, because of the bitter taste in my mouth for vw. I no longer want this car.
2001 Volkswagen Beetle engine complaints
Page 3 of 3: complaints 41 to 51 of 51, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I own a 2001 vw beetle. Bought right off the show room floor. Paid a pretty price for it too. My car was running great until january of 2003, less than two years after I bought it. The check engine light came on and I noticed the car was shaking and cutting out really bad. I barely made it home that night. I took it in to be repaired in may of 2003, costing me a hundred dollar bill. It wasn't 6 days later it did it again, same thing. So I called the dealer where I bought it. They told me it was going to cost another hundred dollars to fix it. Wasn't happening. I got a hold of the main man in charge of service, told him my problem and he waved the fee. When I got up there the next week, they told me it could be 1-250 different things wrong when the check engine light is flashing. Ok, I am starting to do some math here. 250 possible things wrong x $100= $25,000!!!!!!! I could buy a house for that much money. And the car isn't worth anywhere near that much now. It's like I would be paying for it all over again and who's to say the problem would even get fixed? It could just keep going in circles. I don't know about all of you, but I don't have that kind of money. I am making close to $500 payments a month on this car with three years still left to go on it. You would think a car costing that much and all the hype they pushed on it that it would run better than what it does and would have lasted longer than it did. To all the people out there thinking about buying a vw beetle, take it from an owner, don't!!!!!
While driving at 40 MPH, consumer states vehicle began to misfire, check engine light started to flash then it stayed on. The vehicle started to ride very rough. Took to delaer and dealer stated coil packs had failed. Ts
Consumer states while driving across a bridge, one of his engines died leaving him with very little power. He states that this is the second time this has happened to him. He had it repaired under the warranty, but it may happen again, or with other people, which is a high risk for an accident if the auto stops in heavy traffic. Ts
Engine quit running while driving at 30 MPH. Lost all power including power steering and brakes. Was able to stop car safely. Car would not restart. Dealer reports that ECM is being replaced, but blames problem on an aftermarket k&n air filter that was installed 11 months ago. Informed dealer and vw customer service of the magnussen-moss warranty act of 1982 which makes it a federal offence to not honor a warranty unless the manufacturer offers free filters. Vw is covering ECM under warranty, but is insisting on use of a vw filter at my expense. I consider this to be a serious safety defect and a violation of federal law. The vw reference number for this complaint is #20268678.
The consumer had a side impact accident, but the passenger side air bag failed to deploy resulting in a serious injury to the passenger. *yh the consumer stated the belt tensioner deployed which caused his increased acceleration over the normal forces .
Most of the engine was replaced during the beginning of january. On jan 22nd, traveling on a highway, engine lost power and was almost involved in a multi-car accident. I was in the middle lane and the power cut from 55 to about 10 miles an hour in the matter of seconds. Other cars were swerving around me and I was finally able to pull off the road. Car was towed back to dealership and the throttle body was cleaned out. On jan 30th the same thing happened again, only this time I was not on a highway but a side street. Car was towed away again andis in the dealership waiting for repairs. During this month not only was an engine replaced but it malfunctioned twice. It is dangerous to travel on any highway with this car. The engine malfunctioned twice in one week. I can not safely return to driving this car. I was almost killed once and was very lucky not to have been involved in a seriuos accident. The beetle has engine problems and very major ones. For a car that is 8 months old, this should not be happening.
I received this 2001 beetle after speaking with the dealership and a volkswagen representative, because my 2000 beetle had so many problems which could not be fixed. After about 5 months, this 2001 beetle has had many problems and continues to have many problems. I took it in the first time on july 26, 2001 for engine problems. The dealership that I took it to for service said it was a defect and they ordered meparts to correct the problem. They did also find faults with p1200 and p0411 tech bulletins. It was also discovered that the secondary air injection pump motor was inoperatiuve. They removed and installed an ovverrun cut-off valve. That same day, the window glass was found off track so they removed and installed a front door trim panel and the window glass. The car was back in for the ordered parts for the engine defect on a later date. About 2 months after those repairs, my automobile was in for a faulty trunk latch and motor and a malfunction with the airbags. They had to order parts for that and so my car was in on a later date for that. They replaced the lower trunk latch binding and removed and installed liftgate trim and a rear lock. They also replaced the air bag module, as well as removing and insstalling an air bag control unit. The car has other problems as well. The steering wheel shakes and vibrates the left side of the car. The car has trouble starting. It has a hum sound while driving. The turbo wing light comes on at different times. It's having the almost all the same problems as my last beetle. I'm very angry with this car and I can't seem to get any relief. It's a leased automobile, that's my only thing to look forward to, is getting rid of it.
Mass airflow sensor failure. I have had 4 fail, and the dealer has just been replacing these. I have come to the point of just disableing this sensor and running off of the manifold absolute pressure sensor. Several cars have had this problem.
Vehicle will start off okay, but then it would die/stall. Problem was intremittent. It shut off for about10 seconds or more. *ak dealer replaced relay, however vehicle has stalled 4 more times, possible engine problems.
Vehicle experiences delay in acceleration almost causing several accidents, dealer informed consumer that this vehicle has a design using a stepping motor that can create a lag time during acceleration.
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