2004 Volkswagen Touareg

DT: THE VEHICLE HESITATES ON ACCELERATION, AND THIS HAPPENS INTERMITTENTLY. WHILE STEPPING ON THE GAS PEDAL AND THE VEHICLE HESITATES. THE CONSUMER TOOK THE VEHICLE TO DEALER, AND THEY SAID THIS WAS NORMAL, BUT THEY DID SAY VOLKSWAGEN PROGRAMMED A DELAY IN THE COMPUTER CHIP. THERE IS NO FOREWARNING, NO LIGHTS COME ON, AND THERE IS NO NOISE. THIS FIRST HAPPENED ON MARCH 1, 2005. *AK

I AM HAVING TROUBLE WITH MY VW TOUAREG V6. SINCE THEN I HAVE HAD NUMEROUS VISITS TO THE DEALER FOR FAILURES IN DESIGN. FOOTLIGHT WOULD NOT SHUT OFF WHEN THE CAR WAS OFF DUE TO TRUNK DOOR LATCH BEING BROKEN AT TIME OF PURCHASE. TIRES WERE WEARING FASTER THAN NORMAL AND THE ALIGNMENT WAS BAD. I WAS GIVEN NEW TIRES, HOWEVER, WHEN I ASKED IF THIS COULD HAPPEN AGAIN, I WAS TOLD YES AND THEY WERE UNSURE WHAT VW WOULD DO IN THE FUTURE. TIRE PRESSURE LIGHT GOES ON AND OFF AT ANY TIME. I WAS TOLD THIS WAS A MALFUNCTION THAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HAVE NUMEROUS COMPUTER OPTIONS. IT CAME ON AFTER A TIRE ROTATION AND OIL CHANGE AND THE DEALER SAID "DON'T WORRY, IT WILL RESET ITSELF AND GO OFF".RADIO HAS MYSTERIOUSLY STOPPED WORKING FOR 24 HOURS AT A TIME. CAR HAS ACTUALLY BEEN DEAD ON TWO OCCASIONS AND HAS LEFT ME STRANDED. I WAS TOLD BY THE DEALER THAT THE BATTERY IN THE TOUAREG CAN'T SUPPORT THE CAR AND THE COMPUTER MODULES. I WAS TOLD THERE WAS NOTHING THAT COULD BE DONE ABOUT THIS AS THE BATTERY WAS FULLY CHARGED. I WAS TOLD THIS WAS A MISTAKE BY VW AND I WOULD HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT. I WAS ALSO TOLD TO NOT DRIVE IN THE CITY AS THIS MAKES THE PROBLEM MUCH WORSE. I WAS TOLD THAT THEY AREN'T SURE HOW THAT HAPPENED, BUT SIMPLY RESETTING THE CAR MADE IT RETURN. CD PLAYER WOULD NOT WORK,CAR WAS "RESET". I FIND THIS CAR TO BE THE BIGGEST JOKE EVER MADE. I UNFORTUNATELY AM OVER THE MILEAGE FOR THE LEMON LAW IN MAINE (I HAVE 27,000MILES ON THE CAR). I REALLY THINK THINGS ARE GETTING WORSE IN MY CAR THE LONGER I HAVE THE THING. MY BIGGEST CONCERN WITH THE CAR IS THAT THERE IS A POSSIBILITY IT COULD STOP WORKING AT ANY MOMENT. I FEEL I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO CARRY A SELF JUMPING SYSTEM IN A PRACTICALLY BRAND NEW $34,000 CAR. I WAS ALSO TOLD BY MY DEALERSHIP WHEN I STATED I WAS THINKING OF SELLING THE CAR, THAT THEY DIDN'T BLAME ME AS THEY HAD HEARD A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY THAT ABOUT THE TOUAREG. YEAH, I FEEL REALLY SAFE WITH THIS CAR. I THINK IT IS TIME SOMEONE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS CAR AND VW. *NM

THE RADIO IN THE 2004 VW TOURAEGG IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS DUE TO ITS DESIGN WHICH REQUIRES THE DRIVER TO TAKE THEIR EYES OFF THE ROAD TO CHANGE THE STATIONS ON THE RADIO IN A WAY THAT IS UNTYPICAL OF ANY RADIO BEING DESIGNED TODAY. YOU MUST PUSH BETWEEN 4 TO 6 BUTTONS TO GO BETWEEN AM AND FM STATIONS AND FIND THE STATION YOU WANT TO LISTEN TO. IT REQUIRES THE DRIVER TO TAKE THEIR EYES OFF THE ROAD AND BE DISTRACTED FOR WAY TOO LONG. WHEN DOING CITY DRIVING YOU CAN DO IT AT RED LIGHTS BUT ON THE HIGHWAY IT'S VERY DANGEROUS. PLEASE LOOK INTO THIS AND TEST IT IN A TOURAEG - IT CAN'T BE UNDERSTOOD UNLESS YOU GET IN THE CAR. CUP HOLDERS ARE SO SHALLOW THAT CUPS AND BOTTLES GO FLYING OUT AND LAND UNDER THE FEET OF THE DRIVER NEAR THE GAS PEDAL OR GOING FLYING INTO THE PASSENGER FOOT AREA. ALSO VERY DANGEROUS. THE CATEGORIES DON'T REALLY IDENTIFY THIS COMPLAINT BUT I HOPE YOU'LL TAKE IT SERIOUSLY AND CHECK THE CAR. I HAVE BEEN DRIVING FOR ALMOST 40 YEARS AND THIS WAS A "SLEEPER" ISSUE NOT EVIDENT AT PURCHASE BUT IS THE MOST DANGEROUS RIDICULOUS FEATURE I'VE EVER SEEN IN A GOOD CAR. I HAVE BEEN TO THE DEALERSHIP AND THEY TOLD ME TO SIMPLY LISTEN TO ONE RADIO STATION. MY CHILDREN BOUGHT ME AN IPOD TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM AND THE RADIO IS PROGRAMED SO THAT YOU CAN'T USE AN IPOD EASILY EITHER BECAUSE IT DOESN'T ALLOW YOU ACCESS TO UNUSED STATIONS.

1.THE CLOCK ON THE DASHBOARD: THE TIME IS RUNNING ALMOST 1 MINUTE FASTER PER DAY. IF YOU DONT FIX IT FOR 10 DAYS, IT WOULD RUN 10 MINUTES AHEAD. 2.THE DRIVERS SEAT: WHEN I PURCHASED THIS CAR, I ASKED FOR POWER SEATS BUT THE DEALER DIDNT HAVE IT. I WAS A LITTLE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THE MANUAL SEAT, BUT THE SALES PERSON CONVINCED ME, SO I DECIDED TO TAKE THE ONE WITH MANUAL. SINCE THEN, IVE FELT THAT THE DRIVERS SEAT IS ALWAYS SINKING DOWN SO I CONSISTENTLY HAVE TO PULL UP THE STICK TO PUSH UP THE SEAT QUITE OFTEN WHILE IM DRIVING. 3.REAR SEAT: I HAD TO FOLD THE REAR SEAT ONCE TO LOAD SOMETHING IN THE BACK. AFTER, I TRIED TO UNFOLD THE SEAT BUT IT DIDNT GO BACK. I BROUGHT THIS CAR TO THE DEALERS SERVICE ON NOV. 15TH, 2004. WHILE ONE OF THE SERVICE PERSONS WAS TRYING TO UNFOLD THE REAR SEAT, HE HAD TO CUT THE SEAT BELT AND HAS SCRATCHED THE SEAT AND BROKEN SOME PIECE ON THE SEAT. HE SAID HES GOING TO ORDER SOME PARTS AND IT WOULD TAKE A FEW DAYS. EVER SINCE THEN, NOBODY KNOWS THE STATUS OF THIS ORDER. BOTH THE SERVICE DEPT AND THE CUSTOMER CARE DEPT, IN HEADQUARTERS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN TELLING ME ITS ON BACKORDER WITH NO FURTHER INFORMATION, AND THEY DONT KNOW WHEN FOR LAST SIX MONTHS. I ASKED THEM IF YOU DONT HAVE THE PART, EVEN IN GERMANY, HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR THE MANUFACTURER TO MAKE THE PART? AND THEY KEEP SAYING IS DONT KNOW AND WE ARE STILL CHECKING THE STATUS OF THE PART EVERYDAY. IN A COMMON SENSE, THE PERIOD OF FOUR MONTHS SHOULD BE ENOUGH TIME TO MAKE THE PART AND SHIP IT TO THE DEALER. I ALSO SENT A COMPLAINT LETTER TO THE CEO OF THE DEALER/MCKENNA & VW NORTH AMERICA HEADQUATER A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO. BUT STILL THEY DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE PART.

THE RADIO DISPLAY SYSTEM (DISPLAYS RADIO STATION INFO,SONG TITLE, AND ARTIST) QUIT WORKING. THE DEALER HAS RECONNECTED THE RADIO AND REPLACED THE RADIO. EACH TIME IT WORKS FINE FOR A FEW HOURS AFTER RETURNING HOME THEN IT QUITS DISPLAYING INFORMATION. THE DEALER SAID THE RADIO ISN'T DESIGNED TO DISPLAY THIS INFO, YET IT WORKED FOR A MONTH AFTER GETTING THE VEHICLE! IT WORKS ON MY OTHER CAR. THE RADIO IS THE UPGRADE MONSOON SYSTEM WITH CD. *JB

MY 2004 TOUAREG WITH LESS THAN 5000 MILES HAS BEEN IN FOR SERVICING 7 TIMES. THE BRAKES HAVE BEEN WORKED ON AND LOOKED AT THREE TIMES. THEY STILL SQUEAL BUT THE PROBLEM HAS LESSENED. OF MORE CONCERN ARE THE SAFETY ISSUES THAT HAVE AFFECTED ME. I HAVE BEEN LOCKED OUT OF MY VEHICLE TWICE, EACH TIME WITH A DIFFERENT RESOLUTION. UPDATED SOFTWARE WAS THE LATEST FIX. MY AIRBAG FAULT LIGHT IS NOW ON. ANOTHER SOFTWARE RESOLUTION IS ON THE WAY. I HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN THE QUALITY OR SAFETY OF THIS VEHICLE OR WHEN THE NEXT ISSUE WILL ARISE. VOLKSWAGEN TOLD ME MY CAR WAS NOT PROBLEMATIC AND I HAD "BUYERS REMORSE". I AM IN AWE OF THEIR LACK OF CONCERN ESPECIALLY WHEN I KNOW I AM NOT THE ONLY TOUAREG OWNER OUT THERE WITH PROBLEMS.*AK

CONTINUOUS FAILURES OF THE ELECTRONIC SYSTEM LEADING TO: 1) SPORADIC FAILURE OF TURN SIGNALS (BLINKING AT THE SAME TIME ON BOTH SIDES) SENDING WRONG MESSAGES TO OTHER TRAFFIC PARTICIPANTS ABOUT DRIVERS INTENTIONS. 2) REQUIRING NUMEROUS EFFORTS TO OPEN CAR DOORS (DRIVER'S DOOR, KEY BEING REMOVED FORM IGNITION LOCK). IN A CASE OF EMERGENCY THIS CAN LEAD TO SEVERE CONSEQUENCES; IN DAILY USE IT CAN CAUSE PANIC. 3) COMPUTER SETTING TO "ALL DOORS OPEN, TAILGATE OPEN" CHANGES BY ITSELF TO SINGLE DOOR OPEN. (NO HAZARD BY ITSELF BUT PROOF THAT THE ELECTRONIC SYSTEM FAILS).*JB