2009 Volkswagen GTI: multiple warning lights

Filed Jul 15, 2019 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 59,000 miles · FL

About two weeks ago while driving straight on a city street in dry conditionat a steady speed the ESC light on my dash came on and would not go out until I had parked the car for some time and restarted it. The light then came back on again after about 5 minutes of driving, this time it was accompanied by the electric power steering warning light which began to flash orange, then was solid orange and then flashed between orange and red. When the electric steering light is orange the steering assistance is reduced when straightening after cornering, however when it is red there is no power assistance and this condition can happen at any speed and at anytime without warning. Now yesterday(7/14/2019) when driving at 40mph in a straight line in the dry, the engine fail! Workshop now!, esp,epc, electro steering, cel and ABS warning lights came on accompanied by a chime and the speedo went from 40 to 0 and back up again while in motion. Quite disconcerting to have all that happen at once. After all the lights went out the vehicle seemed to be ok until I attempted to pull out of a gas station at which time with the vehicle in drive I pressed the accelerator and the revs went up but the vehicle did not move until the third attempt. I have read on line that this maybe a result of an ABS module failure but my VIN doesn't pull up any recalls and my vehicle is out of warranty. Not only does this sound like it will be an expensive repair, it is also a hugh safety issue! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures as it is completely random and not safe to try and take pictured while driving.

Filed Jun 30, 2019 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 150,000 miles · TX

While driving the vehicle on street roads and highways the car will shift down into a unknown gear and all lights start flashing putting the car into a neutral that doesn't fix until it's restarted.

Filed Sep 25, 2017 · Brakes, Transmission · 101,000 miles · MI

While driving down a rural highway in clear conditions and light traffic,at about 45 MPH, several lights came on the dash, and the tachometer started jumping up and down I had no acceleration, and was lucky to be in a place to get off the road. I don't recall if I touched the brakes or not just before this happened, as it is sometimes necessary when driving with other cars on the road, but there was no hard braking. I was just driving normally. If I touched them at all, it would have been lightly,.the car would start fine but no gears. Towed to dealership. Their report said "small metal shards about the size of a grain of sand" in the trans fluid, and "it appears the transmission commuter did not disengage the clutch in use as it engaged the clutch for the next gear and tried running the vehicle in two gears at the same time at cruising speed., which in turn damaged the transmission internally and destroyed the dual clutch friction discs." I recently found out that there is a recall for the ABS module on my vehicle. Another driver (the federal safety agency id 10944646) indicated that when his ABS module failed, that his vehicle randomly downshifts to first gear, and is unable to switch back. He said "what starts as a simple brake problem is now an undriveable car". Is this what happened to my car? Could my ABS module failure cause the transmission to downshift while travelling at 45 MPH? Should the transmission repair be included in the ABS recall program? This was a very dangerous situation, and I had no warning before it happened. Also, it was very hot out, about 90 degrees, if temperature plays a role in this situation. I am making an appointment to have the ABS issue repaired under the recall, but volkswagon is taking no responsibility for the transmission failure. They said it is out of warranty. I think they may be related, and customers need to know if this is a possibility.

Filed Sep 1, 2016 · Driver assistance · 60,000 miles · IL

Abs module failure. When I drive during snow and winter and my car starts to slide my dash lights up like a christmas tree and beeps loudly. I got kids and don't want to get into an accident with them in the car because of it. Abs doesn't work like it used to. 2k for a fix is definitely not something that I can stomach. Vw needs to step it up before someone gets hurt or killed.

Filed Nov 10, 2015 · Brakes · 62,000 miles · TX · crash

I bought this gti used from a fabulous vw dealer with 55,000 miles on it. I've owned the vehicle roughly six or seven months and under hard braking, sharp turns/maneuvers or quick acceleration I would randomly get the ABS, traction control and flashing e-brake light illuminated in my gauge cluster. These warning lights would stay on until the ignition was switched off and when the car was restarted would go away. While driving home from work yesterday, now with 62,000 miles, I applied the brakes while going 45-50 miles an hour. The car that was a good 6 car lengths in front of me had slammed on their brakes so I had ample room to come to a stop. After applying the brakes all of my wheels locked up and my car began to spin out of control off the road. After spinning twice my car came to rest on the shoulder facing the opposite direction. The car came to rest not more than a foot from a 30 or 40 foot steep unguarded grade. Had the car gone any further I might have been severely injured, or worse, killed. The same lights were illuminated on the gauge cluster. After gathering my nerve and driving home I parked the car in my drive way. Turned it off and turned it back on. Again, all the warning lights were gone. I did some online research and found numerous accounts of this issue indicative of the 2009 model year vw's but no recall has been issued. Vw customer service stated that they would not cover any costs which I reject as I feel that I should not have to pay the hefty fee of replacing and recoding the ABS module as it shouldn't have failed to begin with.

Filed Sep 28, 2015 · Brakes · 78,000 miles · MO

While accelerating onto highway, multiple warning lights came on in the instrument cluster. "esp" light on solid, "ABS" light on solid and "handbrake" light flashing. I pulled off the highway turned the car off then back on and lights disappeared. After research online I found hundreds of other owners with similar issues. The problems stems from a faulty ABS control module where repairs costs thousands of dollars. When this part fails the vehicle has no ability to use ABS system or traction control system. This is a major safety system with in the car. The number of owners experiencing this problem leads me to believe this is a wide spread issue with the part used within the system.

Filed Aug 17, 2015 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 65,000 miles · IA

2009 volkswagen gti - ABS control module or pump failure. Under normal driving conditions, several dash lights came on including "brake" and "ABS", as well as being accompanied by beeping. The ABS system in the vehicle was no longer active as soon as this happened. Once the car was turned off and back on, the lights were gone and ABS was active. Now, in any inclement weather, this happens and immediately disables the ABS, which is a huge safety hazard. Volkswagen does not currently acknowledge this issue.

Filed Jan 9, 2015 · Brakes · 61,000 miles · CA

The vw dealer has diagnosed the problem as a failure of the ABS control module. While driving a car with a failed control module, there a no symptoms, but if you hit the brakes hard enough to trigger the ABS system, the ABS system doesn't work. The tires lock, and the car slides. Thereafter, several warning lights come on, but power cycling the car turns the lights off, giving the impression that the problem has resolved. I wasn't involved in an accident, but the risk of someone being is a serious accident because of an ABS failure is high. You would only find out the part had failed after you needed it.

Filed Nov 7, 2014 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 90,600 miles · CA

While driving at highway speeds, multiple dashboard lights indicating loss of traction control, anti-lock brakes, and power steering were illuminated. This then caused issues because those systems are not working while the speedometer (would stay at 0mph when driving) and the fuel gauge (moved around randomly from 1/4 to 3/4 full). Looking into this issue I found that several owners of the same make, model, and year have had the exact problem as me.

Filed Oct 30, 2014 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 47,500 miles · NJ

I was driving around a turn at roughly 60mph on a highway off-ramp during dry conditions when the dashboard chimed and several warning lights illuminated. Both the esp and ABS lights lit and remained lit continuously, and the brake light began to blink continuously. The car still drove normally, so I continued to drive another five minutes to my home. Upon turning off the ignition completely and restarting the car, all three indicator lights were cleared. This same incident occurred on numerous occasions over the following months, during snowy/icy conditions. On any slippery road surface during heavy braking, the three indicator lights would illuminate and the dash would chime. This fault was always cleared by simply restarting the vehicle. However, the ABS system never functioned properly; the brakes would simply lock up when this fault occurred. I brought the vehicle to a dealer to have a proper diagnoses completed, at which point it was determined that the ABS module was faulty and needed to be replaced. The repair cost was estimated at $1700.00. I contacted vw's corporate north american office several times through phone call and mail, and I was denied coverage or payment assistance, as the vehicle was beyond the bumper-to-bumper warranty. I decided not to worry about the problem until this winter, but last week I had the fault occur again when driving at about 55mph on a wet roadway and hitting my brakes hard to avoid a deer that ran across the road. I was fortunate to miss the deer, but the brakes locked up and the rear-end of the vehicle began to slide around before I let off the brakes. I had another dealer diagnose the issue again, and this time they discovered that the ABS pump and module were both faulty. I just had the repair performed at a cost of about $2,450.00. I feel this is a serious safety issue that should warrant a recall.

Filed Aug 23, 2014 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 49,199 miles · MA

On 8/8/2014, I turned on my car to go work. Once I turned on the ignition/engine, all warning lights (power steering, engine, electronics, ABS, esp and braking) came on or flashing. After several attempts (3 times) to restart the car, the warning lights came on and off periodically. With a last restarting attempt that morning, all warnings lights went away and I drove off to work. In the middle of the way, all warning lights came back on again. This time, power steering, ABS, speedometer, gas gauge, etc. All malfunctioned periodically during my drive. During the drive, I had no idea how fast I was driving or how much gas I really had and with no power steering and ABS etc. I did arrive at work safely but not without some serious and perhaps dangerous maneuvers with a nonworking power steering, ABS, and other electronic components. I took the car to a vw dealership in braintree ma the next morning. After a weekend of diagnosis and a random repair to the ignition switch, the dealership told me it was the ABS control module fault and it needed a replacement. Since that vw dealership was not able to give me a precise diagnosis without repairing random parts of my car and had me paid for it, I took the car to another vw dealership in danvers ma. After hours of diagnosis, I got the same result that the ABS control module is at fault. I had the dealership replaced the ABS control module and paid thousands for the repair. Now the car is running fine. But knowing that the ABS control module fault is very common among my model of the car at all mileage from research and talking with local mechanics, I want to make aware of this problem and the dangers behind a random failure in the ABS control module that can cause failure of both electronic and mechanic components in the car which can lead to serious accidents, injuries, or even deaths without slightest warning on the road.

Filed Aug 23, 2014 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 49,000 miles · IL

Was driving and hit a patch of snow as I brake and my car slid a little and the anti lock brakes did not engaged and I just kept sliding almost hitting a car and all the lights on my dash turned and there was a loud beeping sound.