NHTSA Complaint #10619140 — 2011 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF

WHILE DRIVING AT APPROX 75 MPH IN THE FAST LANE OF AN INTERSTATE FREEWAY MY 2011 VW GOLF TDI SHUT OFF. WITHOUT WARNING, THE GLOW PLUG LAMP BEGAN FLASHING AND CHECK ENGINE NOTE CAME ON THE DASH. AT THE SAME TIME THE CAR LOST ALL POWER AND BEGAN RUNNING VERY ROUGH. WHILE NEGOTIATING TRAFFIC IN AN ATTEMPT TO PULL OVER (QUITE DANGEROUS WITHOUT POWER AND TRACTOR TRAILERS NOW PASSING MY SLOWING CAR) THE CAR SHUT OFF TAKING THE POWER BRAKES AND POWER STEERING WITH IT. I WAS ABLE TO SAFELY GET OFF THE HIGHWAY DUE TO THE WIDE SHOULDER IN THAT AREA BUT THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN ANOTHER STORY HAD THIS HAPPENED IN AN AREA WITH NO SHOULDER OR SAFE PULL OFF. MY CAR HAS BEEN PROPERLY MAINTAINED AT SERVICE INTERVALS AND FUELED FROM NAME BRAND, HIGH VOLUME FILLING STATIONS. VWS OWN TESTS OF MY CAR INDICATED NO FAULT OF MY OWN AND NOTHING AMISS IN THE FUEL BUT RATHER CATASTROPHIC FAILURE OF A HIGH PRESSURE PUMP WHICH DISPLACED METAL INTO THE FUEL SYSTEM. THIS SORT OF FAILURE IS COMMON ENOUGH (NOTED IN A SIMPLE INTERNET SEARCH) AND FLAT OUT DANGEROUS WHEN IT OCCURS AT SPEED SINCE THE CAR GAVE NO INDICATIONS THAT IT WAS GOING TO SHUT OFF AT SPEED (AND FAIL TO RESTART WITHOUT BEING TOWED TO THE DEALER). WORSE YET, VW IS AWARE OF THIS ISSUE WITH THE TDI DIESELS BUT HAS STOPPED SHORT OF ISSUING A RECALL TO INSTALL NEW PARTS THAT WILL NOT FAIL SO SOON AND WITHOUT WARNING. THE CAR WAS FIXED UNDER WARRANTY (CAR HAS ONLY 38,000 MILES) HOWEVER THEY REPLACED THE PARTS WITH THE SAME FAILURE PRONE PARTS. WEB ANECDOTES FROM OTHERS WITH SIMILAR FAILURES HAVE NOTED THAT IT HAPPENS IN HOTTER AREAS (90-100 DEGREE TEMPS). THIS WAS MY EXPERIENCE AS WELL AS I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF A LONG DRIVE IN 100 DEGREE TEMPS. *TR