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.
Volkswagen GTI warning lights comes on
16 of the 1,401 owner complaints about the Volkswagen GTI describe multiple warning lights, most of them for the 2009 model year.
- owner complaints
- 16
- worst model year
- 2009
- typical mileage
- 61,000
By model year
- 20121
- 20111
- 20101
- 200912
- 20071
Often reported together
ABS 9Headlights 2Fuel gauge 2Power steering loss 1Check engine light 1
What owners say
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.
While driving at night I had several lights quit working simultaneously. A bulb warning light illuminated on the dash and messages for right front low beam, right front turn signal, left rear turn signal,left rear brake, right front high beam, right front fog light, left front side, right rear side, and license plate bulbs all appeared in the information screen. I checked outside the car and all of the lights that I got messages about were inoperative. As there was no chance that all of these bulbs failed simultaneously, I did some research to determine what might have caused this. Numerous internet searches for these symptoms seemed to indicate that a fuse in the under hood fuse panel could be to blame for this. I checked the f16 fuse and found it burned on one side of the fuse. The fuse panel was also slightly melted where this half of the fuse was inserted. Pictures are attached. My local vw dealer said the fuse panel will need to be replaced. Upon doing some research, there is a safety recall on the 09-11 tiguan (code: 97z9) and a service action on the 09-10 jetta and 09 gti (code: 97am) for the exact same issue I am experiencing. Both the dealer and vw USA say that I am 100% responsible for the cost because my model and VIN aren't covered under any campaigns.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Related recalls
Electrical system: ignition: switch
- What is wrong
- Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2019 Golf, Golf Alltrack, Golf Sportwagen, 2019-2020 Golf GTI, and Jetta vehicles equipped with a conventional ignition switch. The ignition switch may fail, especially in high temperature environments.
- Risk
- Ignition switch failure can cause the electrical system to shut down and the engine to stall while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- Dealers will replace the ignition switch, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed February 1, 2024. Owners may contact Volkswagen's customer service at 1‑800‑893‑5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 28H7.
Recall number 23V604000 · Recall details
Electrical system: ignition: anti-theft: control module
- What is wrong
- Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2015-2019 GTI, 2015-2016 and 2018-2019 Golf, 2012-2019 Beetle and Beetle Convertible, 2017-2019 Golf SportWagen and 2011-2018 Jetta vehicles equipped with an automatic transmission, manual handbrake and keyless entry. A build-up of silicate on the shift lever micro switch contacts may enable the key to be removed from the ignition when the transmission shift lever is not in "Park."
- Risk
- Removing the key while the shift lever is in a position other than "Park" increases the risk of an unintended vehicle rollaway that may result in personal injury or a crash.
- Remedy
- Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will install an additional switch and circuit board, free of charge. The recall began November 19, 2019. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1‑800‑893‑5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 37M2.
Recall number 19V615000 · Recall details
Questions about the Volkswagen GTI warning lights
Why does the warning lights come on in the Volkswagen GTI?
Owners who report it most often also describe abs light or abs activating, headlights failing or too dim and wrong fuel gauge reading.
Which Volkswagen GTI years have multiple warning lights problems?
The model years with the most reports are 2009 (12 complaints), 2007 (1 complaints) and 2010 (1 complaints).
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used Volkswagen GTI?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history