2009 Volkswagen GTI: check engine light

Filed Dec 22, 2019 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 62,300 miles · FL

While taking the kids to school, my traction control light and steering assist light came on followed by the check engine light and a loss of drive.after taking the vehicle to an official vw dealership they spent 2 days diagnosing the 6 pages of faults that came up and informed me that the ABS module has failed and will require replacement.

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 Apr 11, 2019 · Driver assistance, Transmission · 100,000 miles · CA

The vehicle shifted gears in motion while driving on city streets. Parked the car in may of 2017 and haven't driven it since. Vw has refused to take responsibility, even though I've brought the issue of the vehicle having trouble switching to reverse from a parked position while I was at the dealership for service. Have received multiple occasions where the ABS/check engine light came on. Repeatedly taking it into the dealership to no avail. ** note: vw has refused to repair the issues "free of charge" as stated. That I'd have to pay for inspection by a dealership and since I'm 'out of warranty', I'm sure they'd charge me for the service as well. In addition, there was no 'open inspections' done to look into the recall before my purchase of the vehicle as a pre-owned certified car from the vw dealership. This was in dec. 2010. ** tried submitting this before, which caused an error and fail. It erased all my data. Please review my attached document.

Filed Jun 8, 2018 · Acceleration · 100,200 miles · IA

This has happened several times beginning in march, 2018. Epc light comes on (seemingly) randomly. Occasionally, check engine light/service engine now warning will also come on. Sometimes they all shut off after letting the car sit overnight. Epc light comes on sometimes when we turn the car on and sometimes while driving. We have had three incidents where we try to get onto the interstate (70mph) and can't get above approx 40mph. I've almost been rear-ended twice because of this. On another occasion, I couldn't get the turbo to kick in. So, driving at 65mph again on the interstate, I couldn't get up hills and would end up at approx 55pmh by the time I reached level ground. Again, cars swerving to get around me. My husband has had a complete loss of control of acceleration and had to coast over onto the side of the road. I had it happen once at a stop light, taking a long time and a lot of coaxing of the accelerator pedal just to get up to 40mph. These all happened on straight stretches of road and normal weather conditions. Restarting the car may or may not reset the acceleration issue and the epc light. Computer scan from vw dealer showed throttle body sensor, so we replaced that with same symptoms after a couple of days. Then, computer says it's accelerator pedal sensor. Replaced also with same results. Replaced spark plugs, air flow sensor, cleaned other sensors, still the same. This is very dangerous. I see in forums that we are not the only ones. It is expensive to keep chasing the problem but lives are at risk. Someone is going to get seriously hurt because their limp cars can't keep up with traffic. Vw seems stumped. The only solution I see is getting rid of this dangerous car but I'd hate to pass that risk onto another person either! Plus, dealers pay very little to take this off of our hands for the same reasons. Please help!!!!

Filed Jun 13, 2017 · Driver assistance, Transmission · 55,000 miles · MA

I submitted a complaint last year with complaint #: 10907462. Summary of the unexpected ABS module breakdown that happened last year. The module broke down the first time on 09/06/216 on my way to work and it occurred while I was driving on the highway. I slowed down the speed to around 45 after I lost control of the vehicle when it happened and the lights and beeping did not stop with the engine light turned on. The car was eventually towed and repaired (paid out of pocket) at vw dealership. After searching online, the ABS module apparently has been a problem on gti and gli jetta. Most recently, there is a recall on the ABS modules on certain vw vehicles; however my car was not one of them even though it is the same part that almost caused me a car crash on the highway! Please investigate into this problem and have the vw officially extend their qualification for recalls. It is not right to only recall certain vehicles as other care models/years also use the exact same manufacturer defect ABS modules!

Filed May 22, 2017 · Brakes · TX

I have just started to encounter problems with my ABS module. I received a recall on the module and took it in to an authorized volkswagen dealer asap. Left the car with them for a day in hope to receive news that they were going to order my module and have it completed in a few days. I was wrong. They called me and claimed that it was not going to be covered in the recall. I don't understand how something so critical to the safety of everyone on the road will not be replaced, even when there is a recall on the part. My car absolutely freaks out while driving. I lose my speedometer, my steering is not as responsive as it should be and my dash cluster freaks out. I'm personally scared to drive my own car because I do not want to kill or injure other people or myself while driving the car I need to get around to work, and run daily errands. I scanned my check engine light with multiple people and systems and received a code u0121 which read connection failure in ABS module and was told the module most likely does not have ground. This has happened to so many 09 vw vehicles, yet I've read so many forums and have talked to so many other 09 vw owners who said their cars "did not qualify" for this recall as well. The dealer quoted me 1,300 to fix this issue. I'm lost at words on how I have a recall on an obvious problem which is a manufacture error and I have to pay 1,300 to replace it or good luck with whatever accident you many get in. This has happened on freeways, city streets, and the scariest part is coming down the mountain which I have to drive 5 days out of the week for work. This a problem with these cars and only a few are being taken care of while the rest have to pay or goodluck.

Filed May 4, 2017 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 96,000 miles · NC

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 volkswagen gti. While driving 35 MPH, when the brake pedal was depressed, the check engine, ABS, brake, electronic stability control, and epc indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the ABS module needed to be replaced. The dealer estimated that the repair would cost $1,500-$2,000. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure recurred several other times. The contact received notification of the federal safety agency campaign number: 16v913000 (service brakes, hydraulic, electronic stability control). The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the manufacturer denied the recall repair. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer stated that since the ABS module control failed to work, the recall repair could not be performed. The failure mileage was 96,000.

Filed Feb 22, 2017 · Engine · 73,729 miles · FL

For several weeks, I noticed occasional misfires upon startup and acceleration. Then, the vehicle began running loudly and consuming a lot of oil. The vehicle also shuddered while driving. One morning, the car shuddered and bucked while I attempted to start it, and ultimately failed to start after several attempts. The engine light illuminated. This is not a battery issue; the battery is only a few months old and was tested in the past few weeks (holds charge at 100%). I have had the car towed to two mechanics and the problem was diagnosed as a timing chain tensioner failure leading to catastrophic engine failure. According to the first mechanic, the entire engine needs to be replaced for approximately $4500. According to the second mechanic, the timing chain tensioner needs replacing and the top half of the engine needs to be repaired, leading to a quote of $2800 for repair. The mechanic stated to me that he has already performed approximately 8 of these repairs on volkswagens in the last year and directed me to investigate a pending new jersey lawsuit against volkswagen for the same issue. This appears to be a common complaint. If my engine had failed while at speed on a roadway it would have been extremely dangerous.

Filed Feb 10, 2017 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 84,000 miles · MA

Abs and stability control lights on permanently. Brake light blinks always. Steering wheel, epc and check engine like all come out intermittently. When steering wheel light is on steering is stiff at low speeds. Speedometer only works intermittently. Engine fault workshop and please refuel come up randomly on the info screen even when gas is full. When speedometer is not working, automatic dsg transmission will randomly downshift gears making car quickly and dangerously decelerate. Has almost caused accidents while driving on wet or snowy roads. Car has also locked doors while in park when speedometer not working, locking me out of the car. Girlfriend also witnessed it happen while waiting in idling car.

Filed Dec 19, 2016 · Brakes, Transmission · FL

2009 89,000 miles. Abs control module failure for the past couple of weeks my car would intermittently throw up the ABS and traction lights but this would go away shortly afterwards. I get in my car about 30 minutes and start driving for maybe 1/16th of a mile and everything just freaks out. Speedometer is dropping to zero (while in motion doing about 15 MPH) and fluctuates all over between 0 and 20 MPH. Brake light is on. Traction light is on. Abs light is on. Steering light is on. Epc light is on. Check engine light is on. And the mfd is saying "engine fault workshop". As time has gone on it now tends to happen atleast 15+ times a day. It now happens as soon as I turn the key on. I'm to scared to even drive it. I don't want to drive my 10 year old son in it. Please do a recall, not something we should have to pay out of pocket for!!!

Filed Dec 9, 2016 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 74,900 miles · OH

2009 75,000 miles. Abs control module failure for the past couple of weeks my car would intermittently throw up the ABS and traction lights but this would go away shortly afterwards. I get in my car about 30 minutes and start driving for maybe 1/16th of a mile and everything just freaks out. Speedometer is dropping to zero (while in motion doing about 15 MPH) and fluctuates all over between 0 and 20 MPH. Brake light is on. Traction light is on. Abs light is on. Steering light is on. Epc light is on. Check engine light is on. And the mfd is saying "engine fault workshop". As time has gone on it now tends to happen atleast 15+ times a day.

Filed Dec 6, 2016 · Transmission · 93,000 miles · FL

Tl* the contact owns a 2009 volkswagen gti. While the vehicle was idling, the rpms revved to a higher level and an oil leak was noticed. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and dealer where it was diagnosed that the rear main seal was leaking, which caused the vehicle to surge. The check engine warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was approximately 93,000.