NHTSA Complaint #11573196 — 2019 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF ALLTRACK

I was making my final trip of my move from Minneapolis to the Denver area and was on [XXX] traveling West in the right lane. The truck ahead was moving from the right lane to the left to give room to a car stopped on the right shoulder. There was another car in the left lane so I couldn’t move to the left. The truck was soon blocking much of the left lane so the car in the left lane was slowing as I slowed. I then applied my brakes and the pedal went all the way to the floor without actuating the brakes! Fortunately, by then there was room between the truck and the car on the shoulder and I was able to miss both as I sailed by. Pumping the brake pedal restored the brake function. Thinking that I must be low on brake fluid, I pulled off the highway at the next large service station. The brake fluid reservoir was full. I continued to my new home and at my first opportunity I went to the nearest VW dealership and left it for several days to be checked. No error codes so they did nothing. VW customer service arranged for another dealership to check it out. No error codes and not able to reproduce the problem so they did nothing. About a month later I was one a trip on a very hilly rout. Costing down a steep section I applied the brakes as I started to be more than 10 mph over the speed limit. The pedal went about 80% to the floor! But there was braking this time. Pumping the pedal restored normal brake function. VW customer serviced had arranged for yet one more dealership to look at the car. Again, not surprisingly, they couldn’t reproduce the problem and no error codes so they did nothing. I consider this to be a significant safety problem. As VW would not fix the problem, even as the car is still under warranty, I replaced the master cylinder at my own expense and have taken the car on a 2500 mile trip with no sign of the braking problem I have more confidence in the car. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)