2008 Volkswagen Jetta: sudden unintended acceleration

Filed Mar 5, 2015 · Engine, Fuel system · 5,700 miles · GA · crash

While entering a parking lot, parking space, after stopping completely, the car would not move when accelerator was lightly depressed, there was a 1 to 3 second delay, and then the car lunged forward crashing into the opposing parked vehicle, damaging the fronts of both vehicles. This hesitation was noted once before at about 3800 miles while entering a highway from a stop. Again, the hesitation was followed by a sudden lunge. Selling vw dealer said it sounded like a dsg trans problem, bring back fpr evaluation after its repaired. This unexpected surge problem is the direct cause of the accident. There should be a safety recall. Note: while this vw jetta is 7 yrs old, it is not driven often as can be seen by less than 500-800 miles per year.

Filed Aug 21, 2009 · Transmission · 3,000 miles · NY

We purchased a 2008 volkswagen jetta wolfsberg edition. From a dealership on staten island. The car now has approximately 5,000 miles on the odometer. We began to notice that the car would lunge forward from a starting position while in drive or lunge backwards from a starting position while in reverse. The car makes very jerky, jolty movements forward. We have taken it to the dealership open road in brooklyn, ny. The mechanics believe it is a transmission issue. The part is on order, but the dealership has said it is safe to drive until the part comes in from germany. Although they offered us a "rental" car just in case we felt uncomfortable. I read today (august 21st) that vw in conjunction with the federal safety agency is recalling several vw's due to problems with the dct in the transmission. I am concerned that this problem may involve more than the cars listed, as I am sure that our vehicle is affected by this defect.

Filed Aug 17, 2009 · Transmission · 25,000 miles · AZ

I have had my 08 vw jetta wolfsburg with dsg transmission for a little over a year and have driven it 25000 miles. The transmission has never really been perfect but I put the various clunks, hesitations and hard shifts down to the transmission technology rather than a potential failure. However, as time has gone by I have noticed an increased tendency for the car to surge when attempting to slowly reverse. This causes repeated sudden accelerations much greater than anticipated with the small amount in throttle input. Given that I need to negotiate my child's daycare facility parking lot twice a day this situation has become a real safety concern for me. A similar problem occurs when very slowly starting forward from a complete stop. This situation is not quite as serious a concern for me but is at least very annoying. Primarily I am concerned about the ability to safely reverse my vehicle and maintain control of my speed in doing so.

Filed Jul 27, 2009 · Acceleration · KY

I am submitting a complaint regarding my 2008 volkswagen jetta, wolfsburg edition.we purchased this car 8-08 from a vw dealer, it was brand new. Within several months of owning the car, when attempting to accelerate when in drive, the car would lunge forward. The condition kept getting worse and began also lunging forward when idling. I took it to the service dept. Of the vw dealership where I purchased the car. They said it had to do with the computer memory in my car and it was memorizing how I drive and if I switched over to another driver it would be confused and lunge. This is written on my receipt for the work: "advise customer to only drive the vehicle. It is acting as if two people are driving and the adaptive learning is confused. No codes stored." my car is confused, therefore there can only be one driver???? Sounded silly to me, but I needed my car and I accepted that explanation and left. The condition only worsened. The lunge or surging forward became so noticeable that it was embarrassing. My husband said he also noticed it lunging or surging in the reverse gear as well as forward and idle. I returned it to the service department at the vw dealership july 13, 2009. They have determined that it is a faulty mechatronics unit. They cannot even get the part until the first week in august. They told me that problems with the mechatronics unit are rare. However, I did my own research and found that there are many people who have vw jettas with the same problem. And, this part is a bit weird...many of them had to wait weeks for the part. One person reported that the "surging forward" was so bad that he hit another car. I am reporting this because this condition could be potentially dangerous.it is extremely frustrating to own a new car that has something so major wrong with it. And it was very upsetting to find so many others (online forums) with the same problems. Thank you for your help and consideration of this situation.

Filed Jul 7, 2009 · Transmission · 5,000 miles · MN

I drive a 2008 vw jetta wolfsburg edition equipped with the dsg (direct shift gearbox) transmission. After driving the car for about 1000 miles I started to noticed very harsh 2 to 1 downshifts and surging while in drive. By the harsh downshift I mean when slowing down coming to a stop when the gearbox would shift from 2nd gear down into 1st gear I would always experience a loud metallic "clunk" noise. In regards to the surging while in drive I mean when at a dead stop and you give even/slight pedal pressure on the accelerator the car would surge forward over and over again like you were stepping on the gas and then letting off. This characteristic was very prevalent on an incline. The vw dealership I work with diagnosed the problem as a faulty mechatronics unit which controls the functions of the complex dsg transmission. It was replaced at 5000 miles. After driving with the new mechatronics unit installed for roughly 6000 more miles I started to now experience the same surging issues but when the car was in reverse. I also noticed that the RPM's would always drop like the engine was going to stall everytime I would shift into drive from park. And lastly when starting from a stop, applying even accelerator pedal pressure, the car would always "jump" off the line. Brought it into the vw dealership again and they ended up replacing the whole transmission. After the new dsg transmission has been installed the car drives very smooth now with no surging and no harsh 2 to 1 downshifts. The new trans only has 300 miles on it currently but I hope the same issues do not occur again.