thinking of getting rid!!

[gtchris1]

its the final straw now with my golf now I think.
after 6 trips to the garage and them saying theres nothing wrong with it.
this morning I was taking my kids to school and I was stuck in a little traffic.
I pulled away and was crawling at about 5mph and then suddenly the hanbrake decides to stop me all of a sudden with my two kids hitting their heads off the back seat and the car behind nearly going into the back of me.i noticed the handbrake signal on dash was red wich it shouldn't have been.
just been out in it again and again I was in traffic when I pulled away the handbrake wasn't realesing straight away but when it eventually did I nearly hit the car in front of me.
its at the point now that this car isn't safe to drive .
just been on the phone to vw customer care and insisted that something should be done.
I'm really angry and peed off with it now.

 

[Chris43]

That's not good.

Safety features have to work right.

Have you you tried a different dealership ??

 

[TheWombat]

That is unfortunate, and I sympathize. I've had cars that simply seemed possessed by a malevolent spirit, whose only purpose on this plane of existence was to torment me and mine. One was a 1979 Rabbit, the 'Murican version of the Golf way back when, and one of the first made in the short-lived Westmoreland, PA plant. The car was, I think, haunted, probably the spirit of some disgruntled Gefreiter from WWI or something. Most of the time it would go along fine, but then every day there would be a time when it refused to start, or in fact, do anything. The electrical system simply shut down for thirty or forty-five minutes at a time, then mysteriously returned to the land of the living.

I had to get rid of it, and some gentleman in Alabama bought it from the dealer I traded it to (for a Buick, don't ask). A few months later I get a call from said gentleman, who informed me that the car had, in fact, burst into flames courtesy of the haunted electrics (a feat I thought reserved for Lucas systems, or perhaps Renaults).

tl;dr, when you get to the point where the car is pissing you off more than it is putting a smile on your face, dump it. Life is too short to drive something that irks you. Not to mention safety; I love my R but if it ever endangered my wife or dogs it'd be gone in a heart beat. Cars can be replaced easily enough, the other things, not so much.

 

[EXEA189]

Can you determine a pattern when you think the car will act up? If so, seek out the service manager to take a ride with you when he can experience your defect. Ask the service manager to have the computer connected to your car so he can run a diagnostic while you drive. Speak in terms of the car not being safe to drive and document everything.

 

[BlueHen]

That's terrible. I'd be angry too. It's gone from an annoyance to a safety issue. Work every angle left, and if you feel you've exhausted them, get rid of the car. As TheWombat said, it's not worth the frustration or the RISK.

Your consumer protection laws must be very poor there. Six times for a safety issue is ridiculous. Sorry to hear about it.

 

[Genegenie]

tl;dr, when you get to the point where the car is pissing you off more than it is putting a smile on your face, dump it. Life is too short to drive something that irks you. Not to mention safety; I love my R but if it ever endangered my wife or dogs it'd be gone in a heart beat. Cars can be replaced easily enough, the other things, not so much.

This ^^. Once had new 1.6 vauxhall Astra SE, for 6 weeks or so. The electrics had a mind of their own: lights randomly stayed on even with ignition off and key removed and randomly went off at nite (!), radio went to random full volume (love rock / metal but I jumped out my skin), alarm randomly sounded (ditto), EPB came on and released when and only when it wanted to, rear windows would randomly open. Thought it was my imagination and maybe new car + too many late nites & early mornings but the car pulled its repatoire tricks in front of others too, neither dealer nor Vauxhall believed me so in the end I got rid, was on PCP so no real sweat. A few weeks after Vauxhall wrote to me: there was recall to replace elctrical control units may cause intermettent problems, no sugar Sherlock. Too late, shame as I liked the car, at first anyway....

 

[EXEA189]

Speaking in terms of consumer laws... In Colorado, we have lemon law language about a "defect that substantially impairs its use and market value" within one year of purchase and if a defect is not repaired after a “reasonable number of attempts" (I believe it used to be five repair attempts and something about not having use for over 30 days). Look up what consumer protection laws are where you live. When speaking to your service advisor (SA), use words like "defect," "substantially impairs my use," "affects my market value" and "my safety."

I had a fuel pump issue that would shut off fuel usually when pulling out in traffic (terrifying) which wasn't getting attention until I began to use language related to our lemon laws. I don't know if SA's are trained to listen for language related to our lemon laws, but it was like night and day in terms of their motivation to seek a resolution, offer an loaner car, etc.

I was able to have Mercedes replace an S-Class for me in 2001 because their reputation didn't want me to invoke lemon laws. After numerous attempts to repair to no avail, they called and said, "Come on in and order a new car." It pays to persist and do it calmly and nicely.

 

[Genegenie]

An amusing feature of my 'Astra Saga' was that identical loan cars behaved perfectly, I even asked to swap for one of them, initially return 'my' car but was refused. Almost worth it for the look on the dealers' faces when I returned the car, informing them it was 100% legal and "by the way, I cancelled the finance just after I parked the car on your lot". Not fun overall but the 2nd time I've had to do such a thing, credit companies not always cheap but have ther uses....

 

[The Fed]

OP, do you have Autohold on? Did you do a VCDS scan? It sounds like you have an ABS system fault, perhaps a wheel speed sensor or PB switch circuit. The car thinks you're stopped when you're not.

 

[gtchris1]

Autohold is always on.ive never messed about with the buttons since i had it.
I wont have any problems for a couple of days and then out the blue like today it will happen 3 or 4 times in a day,but never have i had the handbrake come on whilst moving like that.
The bloke behind me was inches away from hitting me and obviously the horn and language came next.
Good job he was a big bloke or i would have ripped him out the car lol.
Just waiting for a call of vw now.
Such a shame that its come to this,ive just totally lost confidence in it now.

 

[pcr]

Cars are getting more and more complicated and I have no confidence that dealers know how to fix them any more. Makes me think that my next car will be as simple as i can get, certainly the EPB can go.

 

[ashchuckton]

I'm very glad this was a low speed event for you & that your children are OK. Had you been traveling at highway speed that could have led to a nasty crash. Time to take it back in. Also contact VW if you haven't yet.

I really don't like the electronic parking brake VW uses. I'm we glad the folks in the colonies get the good old pull up the handle parking brake.

 

[gtchris1]

Yeah i know.could of been very dangerous at a higher speed.still currently waiting for vw to ring me.
I didnt realise you dont have the electronic handbrake in the us.i wonder why that is?.

 

[Genegenie]

The above few posts are what my Astra Autohold / EPB was like, very scary dangeous and defo needs sorting. My previous Golf Mk7 1.4SE Autohold / EPB often didn't function the scenary would move when it shoudn't have done. Current car it operates fine, touch wood (taps temple). Agree with modern cars one almost needs specialist computer programming skills to adjust such items, often beyond the average owner; maybe cars are deliberately built that way ?...

 

[gtchris1]

spoke to vw customer care and to be honest not very helpful so I have come to the decision that I'm going to cut my losses and trade the car in against something else.
they told me to book it in for repair again but to be honest its been in 3 times previous with the same problem so cant really be arsed anymore.
I really did love the golf and it was a shame that I fell on a bad motor.
ive decided to test drive a seat leon fr tdi 184 tomorrow and it will be the facelift model which they have added a couple of new toys and features on the car which are nice.
ok the quality isn't as plush as the golf but I really like the overall package with the leon.
this forum is a fantastic one with some great people who have gave me some great advice since owning my golf,so its a big bye bye from me lol!!!!!