NHTSA Complaint #10438174 — 2010 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA

VEHICLE HESITATES, USUALLY AT LOWER SPEEDS, BUT SOMETIMES AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS, AND STALLED COMPLETELY IN INTERSECTIONS TWICE. INITIALLY THIS WAS MOST OFTEN ON A COLD START, WITHIN THE FIRST 5-10 MILES, BUT NOT CONSISTENTLY. IT MIGHT DO IT ONCE A DAY, ONCE A WEEK, OR ONCE EVERY TWO OR THREE WEEKS. I BELIEVE THE PROBLEM TO BE FUEL SYSTEM RELATED AND NOT TRANSMISSION. I HAVE REPORTED THE PROBLEM TO DEALER WITH EACH SERVICE CALL (3 SO FAR, I HAVE 20K MILES TO DATE). DEALER INITIALLY SUGGESTED BAD FUEL AND TO BUY ONLY CHEVRON, BUT THERE IS NO CORRELATION BETWEEN FUEL SOURCE AND HESITATION, NO EVIDENCE OF WATER IN FUEL FILTER, ETC., AND I USUALLY PURCHASE CHEVRON FUEL. DEALER REPORTED BEING UNABLE TO IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM WITHOUT "CODES". VEHICLE HESITATED AGAIN (11/25/11), WITHIN ONE BLOCK OF DRIVING AFTER 20K SERVICE. I IMMEDIATELY RETURNED TO DEALER, AND THEY WERE STILL UNABLE TO DIAGNOSE. DEALER HAS KEPT THE CAR AND CONTACTED VW USA TECH SERVICE, BUT REMAINS UNABLE TO DIAGNOSE AS OF 12/2/11. MY DAUGHTER PURCHASED THE SAME CAR 3 DAYS AFTER I BOUGHT MINE AND HAS THE SAME PROBLEM (30K MILES SO FAR), BUT HAS NOT STALLED IN AN INTERSECTION - YET. THIS IS NOT OUR INABILITY TO DRIVE A STICK TRANSMISSION - BOTH OF US HAVE OWNED DIESEL JETTAS WITH MANUAL TRANSMISSIONS FOR 10 YEARS PRIOR TO OUR RECENT PURCHASES. I CONTACTED VW USA AND HAVE RECEIVED THE SAME MESSAGE - UNLESS THEY CAN DIAGNOSE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM, THERE IS NOTHING THEY CAN DO, BUT THEY DID SUGGEST GOING TO A DIFFERENT DEALER. VW DID PERFORM A FUEL LINE RECALL WITH MY LAST SERVICE, BUT THE HESITATION REMAINS. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF REPORTS OF THIS PROBLEM ON THE WEB, BUT VW IS UNWILLING TO ATTEMPT ANY REPAIR WITHOUT A SOLID DIAGNOSIS. STALLING IN INTERSECTIONS AND HESITATION WHILE DRIVING ARE UNACCEPTABLE PERFORMANCE FOR A CAR. PERIOD. I HOPE YOU CAN HELP. EVENINGS OR EARLY AMS ARE BEST TIME TO CALL. *TR