NHTSA Complaint #10377051 — 2005 VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE

THIS IS ON A CAR WITH A 1.9L BEW ENGINE AND 6 SPEED DSG GEARBOX. PROBLEM EMERGED AS A ROUGH IDLE (LIKE A CYLINDER WAS MISSING) AND KNOCKING SOUNDS WHILE AT IDLE AND DURING ENGINE SHUTDOWN AS ENGINE COMES TO A STOP. CAR WAS TAKEN TO DEALER AND DEALER DIAGNOSED AS FAILING DUAL MASS FLYWHEEL, $1398 TO FIX. I GOT LUCKY AND MINE DIDN'T EXPLODE/DISINTEGRATE AS SOME OTHERS HAVE, ALTHOUGH I DON'T KNOW YET IF IT HAS CAUSED OTHER DAMAGE TO ENGINE OR TRANSMISSION. CAR HAS 73,000 MILES ON IT AND IS OUT OF WARRANTY, SPENT EXTRA MONEY ON EXTENDED WARRANTY WHEN I BOUGHT THE CAR NEW TO HOPEFULLY AVOID SITUATIONS LIKE THIS - THE LONGEST WARRANTY I WAS OFFERED WAS 7 YEARS OR 70,000 MILES. VW HAS RE-DESIGNED THE DUAL MASS FLYWHEEL TO IMPROVE IT AND THEY HAVE RECALLED THE CARS IN OTHER COUNTRY'S BECAUSE OF THIS FAILURE BUT NOT HERE IN THE U.S. THEY OBVIOUSLY KNOW THERE IS A PROBLEM, OTHERWISE WHY THE RE-DESIGNED PART OR RECALL? THE FAILING FLYWHEEL COULD ALSO CAUSE SEVER DAMAGE TO THE TRANSMISSION AND ENGINE. *TR