2009 Volkswagen Gti

PURCHASED THIS CAR BRAND NEW FROM THE DEALERSHIP. BECAUSE I LIVED IN THE D.C. AREA, I DIDN'T DRIVE IT MUCH, SO THE CAR TODAY HAS ABOUT 34K MILES. A WEEK AGO, I WAS DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY ABOUT 65 MPH WHEN THE BRAKE LIGHT AND ABS CAME ON, ALONG WITH THE THREE WARNING DINGS. TOOK IT TO THE VW DEALERSHIP ON AUSTIN, WHO DIAGNOSED AS ABS BRAKE MODULE FAILURE. I FOUND A VW REPAIR SHOP WHO WOULD CHANGE OUT THE MODULE FOR $400 LESS, AND I DROVE IT HOME. STRANGELY, THE LIGHTS ARE OFF. BASED ON EVERYTHING WE'VE FOUND ONLINE, THIS IS A SERIOUS SAFETY ISSUE FOR THIS CAR. FIRST, THE LIGHTS SHOULD NOT BE SHUTTING OFF AS IF THE PROBLEM HAS DISAPPEARED. SECOND, A CAR WITH THIS FEW MILES SHOULD NOT HAVE THE ABS SYSTEM FAILING. VW NEEDS TO ISSUE AN IMMEDIATE RECALL TO REPLACE ALL OF THESE 2009 GTI ABS MODULES BEFORE SOMEONE IS KILLED.

I BOUGHT THIS GTI USED FROM A FABULOUS VW DEALER WITH 55,000 MILES ON IT. I'VE OWNED THE VEHICLE ROUGHLY SIX OR SEVEN MONTHS AND UNDER HARD BRAKING, SHARP TURNS/MANEUVERS OR QUICK ACCELERATION I WOULD RANDOMLY GET THE ABS, TRACTION CONTROL AND FLASHING E-BRAKE LIGHT ILLUMINATED IN MY GAUGE CLUSTER. THESE WARNING LIGHTS WOULD STAY ON UNTIL THE IGNITION WAS SWITCHED OFF AND WHEN THE CAR WAS RESTARTED WOULD GO AWAY. WHILE DRIVING HOME FROM WORK YESTERDAY, NOW WITH 62,000 MILES, I APPLIED THE BRAKES WHILE GOING 45-50 MILES AN HOUR. THE CAR THAT WAS A GOOD 6 CAR LENGTHS IN FRONT OF ME HAD SLAMMED ON THEIR BRAKES SO I HAD AMPLE ROOM TO COME TO A STOP. AFTER APPLYING THE BRAKES ALL OF MY WHEELS LOCKED UP AND MY CAR BEGAN TO SPIN OUT OF CONTROL OFF THE ROAD. AFTER SPINNING TWICE MY CAR CAME TO REST ON THE SHOULDER FACING THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION. THE CAR CAME TO REST NOT MORE THAN A FOOT FROM A 30 OR 40 FOOT STEEP UNGUARDED GRADE. HAD THE CAR GONE ANY FURTHER I MIGHT HAVE BEEN SEVERELY INJURED, OR WORSE, KILLED. THE SAME LIGHTS WERE ILLUMINATED ON THE GAUGE CLUSTER. AFTER GATHERING MY NERVE AND DRIVING HOME I PARKED THE CAR IN MY DRIVE WAY. TURNED IT OFF AND TURNED IT BACK ON. AGAIN, ALL THE WARNING LIGHTS WERE GONE. I DID SOME ONLINE RESEARCH AND FOUND NUMEROUS ACCOUNTS OF THIS ISSUE INDICATIVE OF THE 2009 MODEL YEAR VW'S BUT NO RECALL HAS BEEN ISSUED. VW CUSTOMER SERVICE STATED THAT THEY WOULD NOT COVER ANY COSTS WHICH I REJECT AS I FEEL THAT I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY THE HEFTY FEE OF REPLACING AND RECODING THE ABS MODULE AS IT SHOULDN'T HAVE FAILED TO BEGIN WITH.

ABS CONTROL MODULE FAULT. SEVERAL TIMES MY BRAKE LIGHT WARNING HAS COME ON, SUDDENLY, AND HAVE LOST ABS FUNCTION AND LOST BRAKING POWER WHILE DRIVING. VERY SCARY ON HIGHWAY. VW SHOP FOUND 7 DIFFERENT FAULT CODES AND COULD NOT GAIN RESPONSE OR CONTACT WITH THE CONTROL MODULE. IT IS ESSENTIALLY DEAD NOW WHENEVER I TURN ON CAR. I HAVE READ DOZENS OF COMPLAINTS ONLINE ABOUT SIMILAR PROBLEMS WITH OTHER 2009 VWS. SINCE THIS HAS HAPPENED AFTER MY EXTENDED 60,000 MILE WARRANTY (68,000MILES NOW) VW WILL NOT COVER ISSUE DESPITE IT BEING ENDEMIC. PLEASE INVESTIGATE, THIS IS DANGEROUS AND NEEDS TO BE COVERED BY THE COMPANY AND RECALLED TO KEEP PEOPLE SAFE.

WHILE ACCELERATING ONTO HIGHWAY, MULTIPLE WARNING LIGHTS CAME ON IN THE INSTRUMENT CLUSTER. "ESP" LIGHT ON SOLID, "ABS" LIGHT ON SOLID AND "HANDBRAKE" LIGHT FLASHING. I PULLED OFF THE HIGHWAY TURNED THE CAR OFF THEN BACK ON AND LIGHTS DISAPPEARED. AFTER RESEARCH ONLINE I FOUND HUNDREDS OF OTHER OWNERS WITH SIMILAR ISSUES. THE PROBLEMS STEMS FROM A FAULTY ABS CONTROL MODULE WHERE REPAIRS COSTS THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. WHEN THIS PART FAILS THE VEHICLE HAS NO ABILITY TO USE ABS SYSTEM OR TRACTION CONTROL SYSTEM. THIS IS A MAJOR SAFETY SYSTEM WITH IN THE CAR. THE NUMBER OF OWNERS EXPERIENCING THIS PROBLEM LEADS ME TO BELIEVE THIS IS A WIDE SPREAD ISSUE WITH THE PART USED WITHIN THE SYSTEM.

WHEN BRAKING HARD TODAY (IT WAS RAINING AND I GOT CUT OFF BY A DISTRACTED DRIVER) MY CAR WENT INTO A (BARELY) CONTROLLED SKID. ABS, ESP. STEERING WHEEL LIGHTS ALL FLASHING WITH THREE BEEPS. THE LIGHTS WENT AWAY WHEN I TURNED THE CAR OFF/ON. MY WIFE IS 7 MONTHS PREGNANT, AND WAS WITH ME IN THE CAR. I'M NOT IMPRESSED WITH WHAT I'M READING ONLINE REGARDING THE SHEER VOLUME OF OTHERS EXPERIENCING COMPLETE ABS FAILURE. SOMEONE IS GOING TO GET KILLED IF VW DOESN'T RECALL THE MALFUNCTIONING CONTROL MODULE. I'VE BOOKED MY CAR IN FOR SERVICE NEXT WEEK. I TRULY HOPE VW STEPS UP AND FINALLY ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS LIFE-SAVING REPAIR. PS I'M IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA (VICTORIA).

2009 VOLKSWAGEN GTI - ABS CONTROL MODULE OR PUMP FAILURE. UNDER NORMAL DRIVING CONDITIONS, SEVERAL DASH LIGHTS CAME ON INCLUDING "BRAKE" AND "ABS", AS WELL AS BEING ACCOMPANIED BY BEEPING. THE ABS SYSTEM IN THE VEHICLE WAS NO LONGER ACTIVE AS SOON AS THIS HAPPENED. ONCE THE CAR WAS TURNED OFF AND BACK ON, THE LIGHTS WERE GONE AND ABS WAS ACTIVE. NOW, IN ANY INCLEMENT WEATHER, THIS HAPPENS AND IMMEDIATELY DISABLES THE ABS, WHICH IS A HUGE SAFETY HAZARD. VOLKSWAGEN DOES NOT CURRENTLY ACKNOWLEDGE THIS ISSUE.

ABS AND TRACTION CONTROL WARNING LIGHTS ON THE DASH HAD INTERMITTENTLY APPEARED ON SEVERAL OCCASION OVER THE PAST THREE MONTHS WHILE DRIVING AT VARIOUS SPEEDS AND CONDITIONS. THE WARNING LIGHTS WOULD STAY ON UNTIL I TURNED THE CAR OFF. ONCE RESTARTED THE LIGHTS WOULD BE OFF. ON 12-AUG-15 THE SAME WARNING LIGHTS CAME ON WHEN I STARTED THE CAR. THEY REMAINED ON AFTER TURNING THE CAR OFF AND RESTARTING. THREE WARNING BEEPS WERE THEN HEARD AT SEVERAL MINUTE INTERVALS UNTIL I REACH MY DESTINATION. OTHER WARNING LIGHTS CAME ON BRIEFLY THEN WENT OUT. I WAS INFORMED BY A MECHANIC THAT THE ABS CONTROL MODULE HAD FAILED. BASED ON AN INTERNET SEARCH I UNDERSTAND THIS IS A COMMON ISSUE WITH THE 2009 VW GTI.

AS I AM DRIVING OR ACCELERATING, NOT BRAKING OR OTHERWISE SLOWING DOWN, I GET A WARNING BEEP AND THEN THE ABS LIGHT COMES ON AND THE 'BRAKE' LIGHT ON THE DASHBOARD STARTS FLASHING. THIS HAS HAPPENED TWICE IN THE PAST 3 MONTHS. THE LIGHTS GO OFF WHEN THE CAR IS SHUT DOWN AND RESTARTED. WHEN I REPORTED THE SECOND INCIDENT TO THE DEALER, THEY REPORTED THAT THE ABS MODULE IS FAILING AND THAT LACK OF REPAIR COULD CAUSE THE BRAKES TO LOCK OR OTHERWISE FAIL IN THE CASE OF A SHARP OR SEVERE STOP. AFTER DOING RESEARCH ONLINE, I HAVE FOUND THAT THIS ISSUE IS ENDEMIC AMONG 2009 VWS, PARTICULARLY GTIS AND THERE ARE KNOWN INSTANCES OF CRASHES AS A RESULT OF BRAKE FAILURE. VW HAS NOT ISSUED A RECALL FOR THIS PART (MADE BY BOSCH) AND THEY HAVE IN SOME CASES REPLACED THE PART AT NO COST TO THE OWNER, BUT THERE IS A LACK OF COMMUNICATION/ADMISSION FROM THE MANUFACTURER THAT THE ISSUE EVEN EXISTS! I HAVE A FILED A COMPLAINT ONLINE WITH VW DIRECTLY AND HOPE THAT THERE IS SOME MOVEMENT IN THIS CASE--THAT IT WILL BE COVERED AND THAT THERE WILL BE SOME PUBLIC MENTION OF THIS PROBLEM.