2005 Volkswagen Beetle: jerking or lurching

Filed Sep 25, 2015 · 98,000 miles · WV

1,2,3rd gear jerking shifting gears as well as on down shift. Have had checked is at transmission shop as I fill this out.

Filed Sep 3, 2015 · Transmission · 75,000 miles · TN

Problems with shifting between 3rd & 4th gears, lurching, and lagging. I called the dealer, gave the symptoms and asked what they thought the problem could be, they insisted they hadn't heard of vw's doing that. My car continued to decline, becoming stuck in a gear, violently lurching, stalling, and all gears lit up(bracketed) on the dash. When I took car to vw nov 2011, 80,000 miles, first they said they couldn't duplicate, but I persisted explaining my horrible, lurching drive into work, where I stalled several times almost getting hit, and how I couldn't put the children I care for in my car for fear of someone hitting my stalled vehicle. The vw mechanic talked me into flushing out the trans and checking the magnet($560). He said 80% chance it was my trans(quoted $6,000), even after there were no metal shavings in the pan, or said it could be the valve body(quoted $1,600), but they wouldn't know until after the repair. I have driven other cars well beyond 200,000 miles without having a trans issue, so was shocked the trans could be bad at 80,000 miles! I took good care of my car, and drove her kindly. The mechanic denied trans issues being common for beetles. I paid the $560, and there wasn't an improvement. I found out about the extended warranty on the valve body too late(even though it was in effect when I took my car in for service!) I was scared every time I drove, and irate once I learned through online search that faulty transmissions are a hugely known problem and vw won't fess up and fix their problem!! After the trans blew on the interstate(that was terrifying having a trans go at 70mph and I am so thankful I was able to guide my car to the shoulder of the road before I was hit!!), the beetle sat in my driveway while I still made payments on it for several months. Please investigate and force volkswagen to recall these dangerous transmissions!!

Filed Mar 23, 2015 · Electrical · 60,000 miles · FL

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 volkswagen beetle. The contact stated that while driving at 35 MPH, the vehicle jerked without warning. The failure recurred several times. The vehicle was taken to a dealer. The technician diagnosed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 60,000.

Filed Sep 25, 2013 · Transmission · 87,000 miles · NC

The transmission lurches when shifting. It feels like it slips and will rev up and . From what I am reading this is a common problem with these cars. The dealerships want $7000 dollars to fix the problem. They all seem to be very familier with this "common" problem. Sounds like there needs to be a recall on these cars. Got this car for my daughter to use through college and now I am stuck with a car that cost more to fix than its worth.

Filed Jun 21, 2013 · Transmission · 82,561 miles · VA

The transmission shifts fails to shift at the proper engine RPM. The problem gets worse as the transmission gets hot. When it does shift it hits very hard, jerking the vehicle out of control. Secondly, the failure shift will leave you stranded on the side of the road placing you in harms way should this happen at the wrong place. The vehicle is not operational due to this uncontrollable shifting malfunction. It is not possible to predict when this malfunction will occur and could lead to bodily injury or possible death.

Filed Jun 13, 2013 · Engine, Suspension · 50,742 miles · CA

I purchased this vehicle used with original warranty still going and I also purchased an extended warranty (high tech) with it. Within a few months the car started to jerk and then shift into gear or sometimes it wouldn't shift into gear or it would barely move. My malfunction lights different ones were coming on and the car started to overheat. Sometimes it would leak all the water out and others you would see it boiling the car also made different noises as I drove and the drivers side window would make this piercing noise and the passenger side would go down and up by itself. Well the following has been replaced plus more.....(2) head gaskets, a few waterpumps, coolant flange melted a few times, a couple thermostats, impellor, timing belt tensioner needless to say this vehicle has had on going problems with overheating numerous times and several things have been replaced several times along with other items. This vehicle has been in to vw capo for repair over 40 + times I stopped counting. Vw capo is the only place that has serviced this car since my purchase. I have been stranded on ortega hwy in 103 degrees with no cell coverage due to vehicle overheating I think I've been towed in 4 or 5 times. Something is not right here....the dealership said it's my fault that I must have put something in the car to clog it. I now have replaced the radiator at my cost of $1600 plus. Has anyone else had all these problems?? I have had alot of problems with the struts, mount, cv boots, control arms etc.........

Filed Jun 5, 2013 · Transmission · 90,000 miles · PA

2005 volkswagen transmission will lurch and slip from 1st to 2nd gear. Issue is supposed to be a valve body issue that vw doesn't seem to want to recognize the defective part. This issue could cause potentially dangerous situation when pulling out onto traffic. The vehicle basically will not go when shifting between those gears. It takes several seconds for it to shift, the vehicle will rev up at that time and then slam into gear.

Filed Mar 17, 2013 · Transmission · 72,500 miles · IN

My 05 vw beetle automatic began lurching/slipping when going from full stop to about 40mph.....when trans is going from 1st to 2nd to 3rd gears.

Filed Feb 15, 2013 · Engine, Transmission · 80,801 miles · GA

When gearing down or starting up at redlight, car downshifts and gears-up with a jerk; took to vw dealer; says it is valve body defect which could utimately cause transmission to go bad; was told at dealership vw knows about the problem and extended a warranty on valve cover only which went out last yr on my vehicle. I never got a notice. Vw admits the problem was there when manufactured in mexico. I believe that this could be a safety issue for many vw owners. Also have had numerous problems with window regulators malfuctioning - affecting locking of doors and window closings- even when these costly regulators are replaced, the problems return... My car value is now -0- thanks to vw manufacturing issues.

Filed Sep 14, 2012 · Transmission · 67,222 miles · GA

Shifting and jerking of the vehicle while driving. The jerking gets so bad that it can delay acceleration and mimic getting rear ended, yet service states nothing was wrong.

Filed Mar 1, 2012 · Transmission · 103,000 miles · CA

I've been having shifting problems between 2n and 3rd gears. The car dramatically jerks to get into gears and throws the gear to first when breaking. I took it to volkswagen to get it checked and they said I had two options to fix the problem. 1. Replace the valve body at a cost of $1950 (and it might fix the problem) 2. Replace the transmission at a cost of $6900. There is a warranty extension on the valve body but, since my car is over 100,000 miles they will not repair my car. I contacted volkswagen of america in hopes to get some assistance on the repair since this is an ongoing problem with this car, but was told that they already made on extension on the warranty and could not assist me in any way other than a $500 voucher to buy one of there new cars. Really??? With the kind of problems volkswagen cars are having I wouldn't even consider buying a volkswagen again!!! Also they have numerous complains on this matter and should repair all of their faulty cars. It is very dangerous to drive a car in this condition.

Filed Jan 31, 2012 · Acceleration, Electrical · 75,000 miles · CT

* hard gear shifting - LED to a complete inability to shift or break - luckily I was able to "roll" off to the side of the road before being hit. Additionally I have experience the sudden lurching on about 5 occasions. * the car also loves to roll even on flat ground. Need to use the emergency brake always and leave in gear. Rolled on 2 different occasions - once with major damage. * repairing the driver side window for the second time in 1 year. It just gets stuck - I have read it is a regulator issue. The first time the window just would not go up all the way and shattered. This time it is stuck down. The first repair was $642! * front lights keep burning out and need to be replaced. I think it has been 5x now in 7 years.