NHTSA Complaint #10881398 — 2009 VOLKSWAGEN GTI

BEGINNING AROUND 55K MILES (CAR WAS APPROXIMATELY 6 YEARS OLD) I OCCASIONALLY WOULD EXPERIENCE A CHIME FOLLOWED BY ABS LIGHT FLASHING WHEN TAKING TIGHT TURNS. IT TURNED OFF WHEN CYCLING THE ENGINE OFF/ON. ALSO, SOMETIMES THERE WOULD BE THREE CHIMES UPON STARTING THE CAR FOLLOWED BY ABS AND ESC WARNING LIGHTS FLASHING. THIS COULD NOT BE REMOVED BY CYCLING THE ENGINE OFF/ON. IT WOULD STAY ON WHILE DRIVING AND ONLY GO AWAY RANDOMLY THE NEXT TIME I RESTARTED IT LATER; SOMETIMES IT WOULD STAY ON FOR MANY CONSECUTIVE STOPS/STARTS. THE SYMPTOM OF THE THREE CHIMES UPON STARTUP GOT MORE FREQUENT RECENTLY (70K MILES). IT WOULD APPEAR ALMOST EVERY DAY. I RESEARCHED THIS ON WEB CHAT FORUMS AND THE SYMPTOMS APPEARED TO BE CONSISTENT WITH OTHER 2009 VW GTI DRIVERS EXPERIENCING ABS CONTROL MODULE FAILURE. I ALSO CONSULTED MY LOCAL VW MECHANIC AND HE CONCURRED MY SYMPTOMS WERE 'EARLY ONSET' FAILURE AND ANECDOTALLY HE SAID THE 2009 VW GTI CONTROL MODULES HAVE A REPUTATION OF EARLY FAILURE. IT IS WORTH NOTING THE CONDITION RENDERS THE ESC AND ABS NON-FUNCTIONAL. I TOOK THE CAR TO THE DEALER AT 73500 MILES AND HE DIAGNOSED ABS CONTROL MODULE FAILURE AND SAID IT WAS DANGEROUS TO DRIVE. I ASKED FOR A GOODWILL WARRANTY EXTENSION AND GOT IT; THE UNIT WAS REPLACED WHICH APPEARS TO HAVE FIXED THE ISSUE. LUCKILY, I DID NOT EVER ENCOUNTER A SITUATION THAT TESTED THE DRIVEABILITY OF THE CAR WITH THOSE SYSTEMS DISABLED.