NHTSA Complaint #10434166 — 2005 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA

2005 .5 MODEL YEAR VOLKSWAGEN JETTA TDI (TURBODIESEL) WITH AUTOMATIC (DSG) TRANSMISSION. ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS WHILE DRIVING CAR, THE TRANSMISSION WILL FOR NO REASON SHIFT INTO NEUTRAL, AND ALL TRANSMISSION INDICATOR LIGHTS 'PRNDS' WILL FLASH SIMULTANEOUSLY. SO FAR, IF ENGINE IS SHUT OFF AND THEN RESTARTED, THE TRANSMISSION WILL AGAIN FUNCTION NORMALLY. I BELIEVE THIS HAS HAPPENED 4 OR 5 TIMES NOW. ON ONE OCCASION, THE CAR WAS IN AN INTERSECTION WHEN IT BECAME IMMOVABLE WHICH PRESENTS A SAFETY HAZARD.I CAN SEE THAT THERE IS A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF INFO ON MANY VW INTERNET SITES ABOUT THIS ISSUE, IN FACT IF YOU SIMPLY GOOGLE 'VW DSG FLASHING PRNDS' OR 'VW DSG TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS' ANYONE CAN FIND IT. IT IS A COMMON PROBLEM. I SEE THAT HHTSA HAS BEGUN AN INVESTIGATION BASED ON THIS FOR 2007 THRU 2009 MODEL YEARS, OBVIOUSLY A PROBLEM ON 2005/2006 VW WITH DSG TRANSMISSION AS WELL. VW HAS INITIATED A NEW CUSTOMER SERVICE PROGRAM TO ADDRESS CUSTOMER CONCERNS RELATED TO CERTAIN DSG EQUIPPED MODELS BUT APPARENTLY MINE (AND MANY OTHERS) ARE NOT COVERED THEY SAY BY THIS PROGRAM- NEVERTHELESS A SAFETY ISSUE EXISTS WITH 2005 AND 2006 DSG EQUIPPED VW'S. I CALLED VW CUSTOMER SERVICE (NATIONAL) TODAY 11/3/11 AND REP SAID "I AM NOT AWARE OF THIS ISSUE' FOR THIS YEAR- SO THEY ARE EITHER LYING OR INCREDIBLY UNDERINFORMED. I HAD THE CAR TO VW DEALER FOR DIAGNOSIS, AND THEY STATED THAT A DIAGNOSTIC TEST SHOWED A MALFUNCTION IN A PART THAT CONTROLS TRANSMISSION OPERATION AND WAS CAUSING THE TRANSMISSION TO SHIFT INTO NEUTRAL BY ITSELF. THEIR RECOMMENDATION, "SPEND $2000 TO REPLACE THE PART, OR JUST GET A NEW TRANSMISSION = $4000. SINCE THERE IS OBVIOUSLY A SAFETY RELATED DESIGN FLAW THAT ALLOWS THE TRANSMISSION TO SHIFT ITSELF INTO NEUTRAL- I FEEL THE NHTSA SHOULD EXPAND THE INVESTIGATION TO INCLUDE ALL YEARS OF VW DSG TRANSMISSION EQUIPPED VEHICLES SOLD IN THE USA. *TR