Volkswagen Golf hesitation problems

Filed May 26, 2026 · Fuel system · TN

Took my car into VW in Johnson City TN because my millage has been dropping drastically. Went from about 420 miles to a tank, down to less than 300. There is hesitation and jerking when I accelerate as well as a gasoline odor in the cab of the vehicle after refueling. Service manager said there was no code thrown and when he took it for a drive her drove “conservatively” and the mpg was normal. They did not physically inspect the fuel pump jet and gaslit me saying it was how I’m driving. Refused to actually look at the problem and then threatened that if I wanted them to look they would charge me for the labor. They did not seem concerned that a safety hazard of smelling fuel in the cab and poor fuel efficiency was an issue.manager said he knew of the active extended recall but hid behind the no code from their scanner instead of listening to the customer who voiced concerns. They didn’t want to do the work if they had to pay for it.

Filed May 26, 2026 · Fuel system · TN

SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION OF ODI COMPLAINT NUMBER 11740201. I am submitting critical supplemental information to my active safety complaint regarding a 2018 Volkswagen Golf SportWagen (1.8T engine). My primary safety issues are a severe drop in fuel efficiency (cut completely in half), heavy vehicle hesitation/jerking during acceleration, and a powerful raw gasoline smell inside the cabin immediately after fueling. These symptoms heavily align with the known physical failures covered under Volkswagen's Suction Jet Pump safety campaigns. I took my vehicle to the Volkswagen dealership today for a diagnostic inspection. The service manager initially dismissed my complaints, refused to physically check the EVAP charcoal canister or suction pump, and claimed that my 50% drop in fuel economy was merely due to my 'driving style.' However, upon forcing me to pay a $136 diagnostic fee to retrieve my keys, the official paperwork provided by the dealership directly contradicted the manager. The technician documented finding a physical fuel leak. Alarmingly, this is the exact same 'small fuel leak' that this specific dealership claimed to have fully repaired a few months ago. That previous visit occurred because my steering wheel completely locked up while driving, nearly causing a severe accident—an issue the dealership also dismissed at the time because it 'failed to throw an error code.' The dealership has demonstrated a reckless pattern of ignoring severe mechanical safety hazards—including steering failures and active, recurring fuel leaks—solely because the vehicle's computer does not register a digital fault code. I am trapped driving a vehicle that is actively leaking fuel, smelling of raw gas inside the passenger cabin, and suffering from dangerous acceleration hesitation due to an unresolved fuel-system defect. I request a formal investigation into this ongoing safety hazard and the dealer's failure to remedy it.

Filed Oct 6, 2023 · Fuel system · SC

While driving the vehicle I noticed hesitation and lose of power on the interstate. No MIL or check engine light illuminated on the dash. I was able to get the vehicle back to the house, but noticed a strong fuel smell coming from the car. I walked around the vehicle looking for a visible sign of a fuel leak and saw a puddle by the rear passenger tire. After further investigation I discovered that the fuel was coming from the air filter on my charcoal/evap canister. I did some research and see that VW has an extended warranty out for this issue but it is not currently a recall, Fuel Tank Suction Jet Pump Limited Warranty Extension (VWP-22-2). The safety issue is that while driving and stationary you have raw fuel and vapors on the exterior of the vehicle by an exhaust muffler and the inner fender liner absorbs some of the fuel in its fabric, so with the right circumstances could cause a vehicle fire. Thankfully this did not happen to my vehicle but the potential for it to happen is present. I took my vehicle to my local dealer and they diagnosed this issue but because my vehicle has a salvage title they will not cover the cost for the repairs, even though the reason that my vehicle has a salvaged/total title has nothing to do with the fuel/emission/evap system, so I will be doing the repairs myself. The parts that needs to he repaired are the same parts listed in the previous recall of the earlier model of the VW GTI (Safety Recall Code 20Y6)

Filed Jun 2, 2023 · Acceleration, Transmission · PA

Over the last two months, I've had over 30 incidences where the car will either randomly shift extremely hard into a gear or will hesitate, stutter, lose power while accelerating. Some of the shifts have been so hard that they've thrown me forward. Some of the losses of power are extremely dangerous as I'm accelerating at highway speeds. I have a full log of at least 30 of these incidents (and detailed as best I could) and they are attached. I picked May 11th because that was the hardest shift/loss of power which caused me the greatest harm. I've been able to reproduce the errors in drive, sport, and Tiptronic mode. The errors occur in all gears, but are most common in 2nd and 3rd (although the higher gears are involved as well), which leads me to believe it's not the transmission, yet the mechatronics unit or something outside of the transmission and engine itself. The troubling issue here is that the car is recording absolutely zero fault codes for diagnosis; that is, the car is shifting, stuttering, hesitating randomly and erratically and no diagnostics are being provided to resolve the issue. Technicians are able to guess what the issue is, but cannot give a guarantee what the problem is without the fault codes. This is the greatest safety concern, but luckily no crashes so far. I was interested to learn that there was a recall on the same model by the Australian government related to the pressure accumulator and I'd like to see if this could be the issue, since I'm experiencing the same symptoms as those described in the recall: https://www.vehiclerecalls.gov.au/recalls/rec-005369. The contact stated that the loss of power issue still persists. The contact stated the issue is a faulty crank trigger.

Filed Jan 30, 2023 · Fuel system · FL

Fuel leaking and pooling from the rear right tire well. Tire well saturated with fuel. Occurs after engine hesitation at high speeds, similar to running out of gas. Opening the gas cap causes some fuel splashing around the opening and gurgling and hissing sounds. Difficulty re-fueling after incident, gas pump keeps shutting off. Fuel siphon pump was tested, and vehicle has been inspected by dealership, problem is not reproducible on demand. No warning lamps turn on.

Filed Oct 20, 2022 · Fuel system · CA

Fuel leaking and pooling from the rear right tire well. Tire well saturated with fuel. Occurs after engine hesitation at high speeds, similar to running out of gas. Opening the gas cap causes some fuel splashing around the opening and gurgling and hissing sounds. Difficulty re-fueling after incident, gas pump keeps shutting off. Fuel siphon pump was tested, and vehicle has been inspected by dealership, problem is not reproducible on demand. No warning lamps turn on.

Filed Aug 31, 2021 · Acceleration, Engine · FL

The car idles rough during initial cold start up, intermittently hesitates during acceleration and feels like it misfires during cruising. My dealer found that the ignition timing was retarded by 5º and told me to use better gas, citing a VW field service action . The problem persisted after they treated the fuel. The car has never thrown a code causing the check engine light to turn on, and so the dealer has declined to investigate further. My records show the car was only filled with premium fuel, using VW recommended brands (BP, Exxon, Mobil, Shell) in the 2,000 miles prior to the service appointment and was only filled with regular fuel twice (due to the Colonial Pipeline shutdown) since the car was delivered new from the dealer.

Filed Feb 1, 2020 · Engine, Transmission · 1,500 miles · FL

Engine hesitate, stumble and jerk from stop to the first 5 gears and make whining noise. Brand new car! Scary do drive and dangerous. Have the car for about 2 weeks, 1,500 miles.

Filed May 28, 2016 · Transmission · OH

Like many owners of volkswagen tdi vehicles, the 1-2 second hesitation when accelerating from a complete stop is very unnerving. It can be dangerous when merging into traffic or crossing an intersection. It happens daily and the dealership was unable to fix it while the vehicle was under warranty. Vw updated the software on the transmission but that "fix" didn't last more than a few months.

Filed Sep 23, 2014 · Fuel system · 60,580 miles · CA

I was stopped at a red light preparing to make a left hand turn when I noticed that the engine started making a rattling noise. After the light turned green, I proceeded to make my turn and after exiting the intersection the vehicle started to hesitate and eventually stalled. I pulled to the side of the road safely and tried to restart the vehicle but it would not start. I called aaa and my local vw dealer and had the car towed there for repair. I was told that the high pressure diesel fuel pump failed and that it would be replaced as a "goodwill" by vw since my car was just out of the 5 year 60k warranty. To my knowledge, the entire fuel system was replaced with the exception of the fuel tank itself which was cleaned. Everything was taken care of by vw with no charge to me, and a loaner car was provided.