2006 Volkswagen Jetta: adaptive cruise control problems

Filed May 19, 2016 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 100,000 miles · NJ

Originally, the turbo would lose boost and the engine would lose power. After some time, particularly during wet weather, the car will suddenly vibrate, jolt, and then the engine warning chime sounds. The tachometer drops to zero, the oil pressure light comes on, the stability control shuts off, the glow plug lights flash, rear window defroster will not work, cruise control wont work, and if the car is shut off it will not restart. This is particularly dangerous during snow or rain, as the car loses traction control during weather in which it is most important to have. Also, if the car dies and is on the shoulder of the road, during rain or snow, there is poor visibility and it increases the risk of someone hitting the disabled car. I have seen many mentions of this same effect happening on other 2006 tdi models, and it seems to be a recurring issue with this particular model and engine type. The root cause appears to be an electrical harness that runs in the engine compartment chafing over time, which happens outside of the warranty period, but causes significant safety concerns with its failure mode.

Filed Dec 29, 2015 · Driver assistance, Electrical · 249,000 miles · IL

My vw jetta has had issues losing electronic power steering on and off, typically when it rains or the roads have been salted and it is slushy or snowing. This last week I was driving and I lost traction control, cruise control, tachometer, ABS brakes and oil pressure. The car would not idle. Researching the issue, I found there may be an issue with the wiring harness. I inspected the harness and discovered that several wires have been chafed by the plastic loom and worn through the insulation, exposing the wires. I also discovered that the positive cable to the starter had chafed and worn through the ground wire insulation creating a potential hazard to short the battery.

Filed Jan 16, 2012 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 110,000 miles · TX

While traveling in rain at 70 MPH with cruise control engaged the speedometer dropped to zero, the brake and ABS/esp warning light came on and there where three chimes. A second later all went back to normal. This happened 6 times that day, and has happened at irregular intervals since at least 7 times. There is no correlation anymore between wet and dry conditions, cruise control does not have to be engaged, I do not have to be traveling at a constant speed. There are no trouble codes stored in the vehicles computer, and the local dealership is unable to help.

Filed Mar 5, 2010 · Engine, Transmission · 117,000 miles · VA

Tl* the contact owns a 2006 volkswagen jetta tdi. The contact stated that while driving on the interstate at approx 55 MPH, the vehicle seemed to not accelerate, although she would press the accelerator pedal, the vehicle would not move past 55 MPH. She activated the cruise control and then the engine revved and the vehicle was in 6th gear but manually shifted down to 4th gear. She took it out of the automatic shift and switched to manual shift and downshifted to lower the rpms. The average speed was 30 MPH because she could not move any faster. It stalled twice on the side of the road and completely shut down with no warning lights prior to the failure or after. She called a repair shop and the mechanic told her to let the vehicle cool down. When she did that and was able tor restart, the check engine light illuminated. About 15 miles down the road, the vehicle shut down again. She waited again and was able to restart. When driving down hills, she shifted to neutral. She also noticed that the vehicle was jerking. She was able to get to her destination and then took it to the repair shop. The mechanic performed a diagnostics test but could not pinpoint the cause for failure. She called the dealership and left a message; she was currently awaiting a response. The contact had not called the manufacturer to-date. The vehicle had not been repaired at the time of the complaint. The current mileage was approximately 117,993. The failure mileage was approximately 117,000-bk

Filed Aug 4, 2008 · Electrical, Lights · 59,400 miles · AZ

The brake light stays on and will not turn off resulting in a dead battery and a very unsafe condition while driving. I drove for a half a day without knowing the light was staying on. A couple of people honked at me, but I did not know why. I also could not figure out why my cruise control did not work. I figured out the brakelight switch was not working when I came out of home depot after dark and I thought I left my lights on. It turned out it was the brakelight switch. I called a volkswagon repair shop and they said there was a recall on it and I should not have to pay. When I called volkswagen dealer service to repair it, they denied any recall. I did a little search on the internet and I now see they have a history of brakelight switch failures on jettas and beetles. They told me my vehicle is out of warranty also as it has 59,400 miles on it and it is a 2006 jetta tdi. I bought this car thinking it will go 250,000 miles with no problems and am saddened by this type of treatment for a safety issue which they have a history of. I have driven many cars over 250,000 miles without a brake switch failure. It seems volkswagen does not know how to remedy the failures on the mexican made vehicles on something as simple as a brake light switch which should be designed for a near infinite life since it is a safety issue. It is not like a fan switch. I am probably one of the first to see the failure as I have put on an unusually high amount of miles, but most of them are highway miles. When I get it repaired, I can get the old part. I hope to get it repaired tomorrow.

Filed Aug 30, 2007 · Engine · 22,000 miles · OK

This has not resulted in a crash on my behalf. While driving on the highway with cruise control set at 75 MPH the car will occasionally (averages once per every 1500 miles) hesitate then resume normal operations. The duration of this event is approximately 1 - 2 seconds. The effect of this being that the car suddenly starts to decelerate then suddenly resume normal behaviour. There are no inidicator lights or events logged in the onboard computer. The vehicle has been in the shop numerous times where they are unable to reproduce the issue. I have offered to drive around with a computer running vagcom (a vw diagnostics app) if they would provide it in order to catch the issue, yet vw and the local dealership refuse to do so. This incident has occured at least 5 times in the previous 4 months, once while my wife was driving. That particular incident nearly resulted in her running into the highway divider. The date noted below is the first incident.