NHTSA Complaint #10003518 — 2002 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA

I HAVE EXPERIENCED 3 SEPARATE INCIDENTS IN THE LAST 4 MONTHS WHERE AN ENGINE COILPACK IN MY 2002 VW JETTA 1.8L TURBO FAILED WHILE I WAS DRIVING THE CAR. IN EACH CASE, I HAVE EXPERIENCED A SUDDEN, DRAMATIC LOSS OF POWER AND THE CAR BEGINS TO SHUDDER. THE LAST TIME THIS HAPPENED (1/25/2003), I WAS DRIVING IN TRAFFIC AT ~45 MPH AND WAS NEARLY HIT BY ANOTHER CAR DUE TO MY SUDDEN ENGINE TROUBLE. VW CONTINUES TO REPLACE THE COILPACKS BUT ACKNOWLEDGES THAT THEY ARE PRONE TO FAILING SUDDENLY AND WITHOUT WARNING. THE LAST TIME ONE FAILED, IT WAS REPLACED WITH THE NEWLY DESIGNED COILPACK WHICH WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE FAILURE-PRONE. I ASKED THAT EACH OF THE INDIVIDUAL COILPACKS (4 TOTAL) BE REPLACED DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE OLDER ONES WERE SUSCEPTIBLE TO FAILURE BUT WAS TOLD THAT VW WOULD ONLY REPLACE THEM AS THEY FAILED. THIS TIME, THE NEWLY DESIGNED COILPACK FAILED, AS WELL AS ONE OF THE OTHER, OLDER ONES. I AM AWAITING 2 REPLACEMENT COILPACKS; HOWEVER, THEY ARE THE SAME DESIGN AS THE 2 WHICH JUST FAILED. FRANKLY, I AM AFRAID TO DRIVE MY CAR AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS, AS THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO GUARANTEE THAT THE SAME PROBLEM WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN WITHOUT WARNING.