What 639 owners told NHTSA about the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta Hev

Was driving about 25-30mph when we heard a pop sound and the car started to become very hard to control. Everytime I would press the brakes the car would become even harder to control. I tried to turn into a driveway to see what happened and the car jerked and caused us to go into a deep ditch. The front passenger tire hit a concrete water drain and the car stopped abruptly. Impact caused the rim to completely break in half and also snapped the front axel in half. The tow truck driver informed us that the drivers rear axle trailing arm was broke in half and he had never seen anything like that before. That night we learned of the recall for that exact part. Over the weekend I've had a chance to go out and look a little better under the rear of the car and it appears to have the steel inlay piece that was supposed to fix the recalled part. The welding is terrible and most of it is rusty so it's been broken for a while it seems. I pulled a car fax on the vehicle and it has went in several times for maintenance at various car dealerships but it doesn't seem that anyone put the fix in the system for it. It has definitely been repaired but nothing shows that. We are waiting on insurance to look at the car. It is available as of right now to be seen. No warning lamps were on in the car. This accident could have resulted in major injuries or even death if they wouldn't have hit the ditch. I have a ton of pictures if you need more. The police did come but didn't file a report because it was a 1 car accident.

NHTSA ODI 11487509

TL* THE CONTACT OWNED A 2011 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA. WHILE THE VEHICLE WAS STATIONARY, IT ROLLED BACK DOWN A HILL AND CRASHED INTO A TREE. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE KEY WAS NOT IN THE IGNITION AND THERE WERE NO OCCUPANTS IN THE VEHICLE. THE AIR BAGS DID NOT DEPLOY. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED. A POLICE REPORT WAS NOT FILED. THE VEHICLE WAS DESTROYED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 63,000. UPDATED 02/15/2017*CT UPDATED 7/16/18*JB *TR

NHTSA ODI 10930289

2011 VW JETTA TDI FAILED WHILE DRIVING ON HIGHWAY. AS CAR SLOWED DUE TO TRAFFIC, THE COIL (GLOW PLUG?) LIGHT CAME ON. WHEN CAR CAME TO COMPLETE STOP DUE TO TRAFFIC, ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON AND THE CAR STOPPED AND WOULD NOT RESTART. THERE WAS NO TIME FOR ME TO MOVE TO THE SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY DUE TO TRAFFIC CONGESTION SO I WAS STRANDED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FREEWAY. WAITING FOR CA HIGHWAY PATROL FOR HELP, TRAFFIC CLEARED AND I WAS SUBSEQUENTLY HIT BY A CAR MOVING AT FREEWAY SPEEDS AND SUSTAINED INJURIES (RIBS, BACK AND NECK INJURIES, AND CONCUSSION) ONLINE, THERE ARE NUMEROUS REPORTS OF OTHER VW CARS THAT EXPERIENCED THE EXACT SAME ISSUE (COIL/GLOW PLUG LIGHT, THEN ENGINE FAILURE). THIS HAPPENED TO ME ON A FREEWAY AND THE REAR-END COLLISION I WAS SUBJECTED TO DUE TO CAR FAILURE COULD HAVE BEEN FATAL. SINCE THIS IS HAPPENING TO OTHER VW CARS, I BELIEVE THIS NEEDS TO BE INVESTIGATED TO PREVENT FATALITIES. THANK YOU! *TR

NHTSA ODI 10911258

I PARKED ON A DRIVEWAY WITH A 15 DEGREE PITCH. I FOLLOWED THE SAME PROCEDURE EACH TIME I PARK, WAITING 1 MINUTE IN IDLE, TRANSMISSION TO NEUTRAL, WITH MY FOOT DEPRESSED ON THE BRAKE PEDAL. AFTER SHUTDOWN I ENGAGED THE PARKING BRAKE AND PLACED THE TRANSMISSION IN 1ST GEAR. I EXITED THE VEHICLE FOR 10 TO 15 MINUTES PREPARING THE CAR FOR WAXING. I LEFT THE AREA FOR ABOUT 15 MINUTES AND RETURNED TO FIND THE CAR HAD ROLLED DOWN THE DRIVEWAY, CRASHED THROUGH A FENCE, DOWN A HILL, AND INTO TREES. (THE PARKING BRAKE WAS ENGAGED BUT TRANSMISSION WAS IN NEUTRAL) I PERFORMED TESTS AND DETERMINED THAT RANDOMLY, GEAR SHIFTER APPEARED TO BE IN 1ST GEAR BUT WHEN I RELEASED THE PARKING BRAKE THE SHIFTER RETURNED TO THE NEUTRAL POSITION AND CAR STARTED ROLLING BACK. I CONTACTED VW CUSTOMER SERVICE AND REPORTED THIS. A VW SERVICE MANAGER ASKED ME TO REPLICATE CONDITIONS OF INCIDENT. I PARKED THE VEHICLE ON A SLIGHT UPGRADE, ALLOWED ONE MINUTE IN IDLE, SET THE PARKING BRAKE, AND PLACED THE SHIFTER IN 1ST GEAR. THE SERVICE MANAGER INFORMED ME THAT MANUAL TRANSMISSION SYNCHRONIZERS CAN RANDOMLY CATCH WHILE STATIONARY PREVENTING PROPER ENGAGEMENT INTO 1ST GEAR. HE ALSO INFORMED ME THAT I HAD NOT FULLY ENGAGED THE PARKING BRAKE. HE PULLED THE PARKING BRAKE UP SLOWLY (APPROXIMATELY 6-7 CLICKS). THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT REPORTED PARKING BRAKE AND TRANSMISSION TESTED OK AND NO REPAIRS REQUIRED. QUESTIONS FOR NTSB: 1 SHOULD ORDER OF OPERATIONS OUTLINED IN VW OWNER'S MANUAL FOR PARKING CAR WITH MANUAL TRANSMISSION BE REVISED TO FIRST PLACE THE TRANSMISSION IN 1ST GEAR, RELEASE THE MAIN BRAKE SLOWLY, AND DETERMINE IF CAR REMAINS STATIONARY BEFORE ENGAGING PARKING BRAKE? THIS WOULD PREVENT FULL LOAD ON TRANSMISSION WHILE INSURING THAT THE CAR REMAINS STATIONARY REGARDLESS OF A PARKING BRAKE FAILURE. 2: SHOULD THE VW MANUAL STATE THAT THE PARKING BRAKE NEEDS TO BE FULLY EXTENDED (6-7 CLICKS)?

NHTSA ODI 10845825

TL* THE CONTACT RENTED A 2011 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE GEAR SHIFTER INDEPENDENTLY SHIFTED FROM PARK INTO REVERSE WHILE DRIVING. THE VEHICLE THEN BEGAN TO REVERSE UNCONTROLLABLY AND CRASHED INTO A SMALL PATIO BUT THE VEHICLE DID NOT STOP. THE CONTACT THEN JUMPED FROM THE DRIVER SIDE WINDOW AND SUSTAINED INJURY. A RELATIVE THEN JUMPED INTO THE VEHICLE WHILE STILL IN MOTION TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THE VEHICLE. THE RELATIVE WAS ABLE TO STOP THE VEHICLE WHILE ON A RESIDENTIAL PATIO. THE CONTACT WAS HOSPITALIZED AND A POLICE REPORT WAS FILED. THE CONTACT DID NOT NOTIFY THE DEALER. THE MANUFACTURER WAS AWAITING A RESPONSE FROM THE CONTACT REGARDING THE CRASH. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE FAILURE AND CURRENT MILEAGE WAS 4,000.

NHTSA ODI 10415394