2019 Volkswagen Jetta: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed May 12, 2023 · Transmission · CA

At ~44,000, in a vehicle we bought 3 months earlier from OffLeaseOnly, the clutch burned out and the car ceased forward propulsion on a deserted country road driven by a very experienced manual car driver who had not burned through a clutch in his driving career. There were no warning lights. It put three people at risk. OffLeaseOnly - had done a full inspection AND stood behind their sale by paying for the new clutch assembly. The clutch and associated mechanism was fully replaced by 12/17/2021 by Niello VW. Vehicle was driven from January - August by same driver. There were occasional clutch burning smells but mechanical inspection did not reveal any issue. The car was not driven regularly from Sept - March 2023. Prior to our daughter driving it starting at the end of March, we had it reviewed by a local mechanic who found no issues with the vehicle. At ~54,000 miles, on May 10, the vehicle was being driven on US HWY 280 between San Carlos and Redwood City, CA. Suddenly, the vehicle would not shift and would not go above 40 mph. The very new driver was able to successfully maneuver to the shoulder and bring the car to a stop. Her safety was definitely at risk as 280 is a congested, fast moving highway where the average speed is 75 mph. The clutch was burning. CA HWY Patrol pulled the car to a park in Woodside where it was collected by a flatbed and brought to Boardwalk VW. Once again, the clutch is completely burned out. Boardwalk VW is tearing down the transmission to see if there is a cause for the multiple clutch burnouts. We have multiple manual vehicles - this is only happening with the VW Jetta. I’ve driven manual cars since 1987 and this has NEVER happened with any of them. We are awaiting Boardwalk VW assessment of the cause. There were no warning lights. There were no symptoms of the problem until the car ceased to operate. Both times, we have brought the car to a VW dealer for inspection and repair.

Filed Dec 16, 2022 · Engine · CA · fire · 1 injury

Vehicle caught fire while putting car in reverse. Car exploded from engine, no check engine light. I could have died, the fire almost burned down a building. The fire department was called and the front of the car was melted. My arm was injured and I had to get a new cast for my broken wrist. Car was towed by city officials as a hazard.

Filed Oct 14, 2022 · Transmission · AL

I have had to replace two manual transmission clutches. The first was at 19,261 miles. The second was at 50,358 miles. Both times the engine excessively revved up while driving without shifting and there was a putrid and foul smell of burning rubber along with smoke. VW repair shop isn't taking ownership of a defective transmission, defective clutch, or defective material. I had to have the vehicle towed both times because the vehicle was not safe to drive.

Filed Jan 6, 2022 · SC

I have a 2019 Jetta R line Series, last year in the winter time the casing for the driver side mirror melted. I went 2 times to Volkswagen, and to other body and paint shops and no one has seen anything like this before? Finally I had to file a claim for Vandalism. I had to pay $750 to the body shop and it was repaired. All Summer, Spring, and Fall, it was fine. Well It happened again on the same side and almost exactly 1 year later from the first one. Took it Volkswagen after speaking Customer Service as an elevated evaluation. I was there for 2 hours, the conclusion again is that "It's an OUTSIDE INFLUENCE" I have done a lot of research and found that other makes and models have had this happen as well. All the other car makers gave the stock answer "OUTSIDE INFLUENCE"! How does this happen twice to the same car. I am on Disability, and hardly drive. Right now I only have 8 thousand miles on the car. I go to the supermarket park in handicap and come home and park in handicap. There is something wrong with this car and I'm afraid that something may catch on fire. The only other thing I can think of is that it has something to do with the main heater and defroster for the whole car. It got very cold here and I had to use both the heated and defroster. Now it has almost completely melted. -- [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

Filed Jun 22, 2020 · Engine, Fuel system · 4,900 miles · LA · fire

I have a 2019 vw jetta gli bought new from vw dealer. When you first start the car in the morning or after its been sitting, basically cold, it idles very rough. The whole car vibrates and shakes. After the car warms up this goes away. The ride of the car feels like there is no suspension. You feel every bump in the road. I have never gotten motion sick from a vehicle while driving. This car gives me motion sickness every time I drive it. I have had others drive the car and report the say thing. I have had passengers in the car and they can't believe how hard the ride is. I have tried all the modes eco, normal, sport and they all have a horrible ride quality. The worst thing is I was driving the car home after work and while sitting at a red light the A/C stopped blowing cold air. After coming off the red light I started smelling fuel coming from the A/C system. The A/C system was on max A/C with the recirc on, so was not on fresh air. Pulled over, opened the hood and saw fire coming from between the engine and firewall on the passenger side. I dropped the hood and the fire ball shot out the side passenger side right behind the passenger front tire. The side and under carriage of the car was on fire and is burnt up. I contacted the dealer they said to drive it in and they will take a look at it. Drive it in???? After it was on fire???

Filed Jan 10, 2019 · Transmission · 5,800 miles · IL

I purchased this car in early may 2018. Early on, I experienced increasing RPM when the gas was released and the clutch engaged. A slight burning smell could be detected from the clutch some of the time. However, on 3 occasions, this malfunction was extraordinary, where the engine RPM soared very high and the clutch did not seem to fully disengage. On all three incidents, the burning smell was significant. With only 5800 miles, the dealership discovered that the clutch was worn to the rivets. Vw of america's response; 'operator error' ' not a warranty concern. Point of reference: I have owned / operated 8 cars with manual transmission over the past 43 years for a total of over 700,000 miles of driving. I have never needed to service a clutch under 100,000 miles of service. The dealership service department was not able to replicate this malfunction, as it only occurred a few times each month. Vw of america agrees it is very unusual to have a clutch wear so quickly, but also believes it is due to the way I drive the car and not covered by their warranty. 90% of my driving is on a 30 mile (interstate) segment between my home and o'hare airport (I am an airline pilot). I cannot imagine the deliberate effort it would take, or the pain in sitting through the kind of 'normal' clutch action it would require to wear my clutch down to nothing in just 5800 miles. Vw of america gave me 30 days to accept their final offer: a reduced cost to me for the repair of my worn clutch. Vw is not acknowledging that there is anything mechanically wrong with my car or the operation of the manual clutch system. There is no concern for the ongoing issue once the clutch has been restored.