2024 VOLKSWAGEN GTI

BACK OVER PREVENTION:SOFTWARE

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2022-2024 Golf GTI vehicles. A software error may delay or deactivate the rearview camera image, resulting in the rearview camera image not displaying as intended. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 111, "Rear Visibility."

Risk: A rearview camera that does not display an image can reduce the driver's rear visibility, increasing the risk of a crash.

SERVICE BRAKES

Manual transmission car. Hill hold brake assist feature is dangerous and can be fixed with software update. This is truly dangerous. When stopped on an incline, the brakes automatically engage when stopped and hold the car from rolling backwards which might occur if the driver did not know how to drive a manual transmission car. When driver takes foot off of brake pedal, the brake fails to release !! It hold for 2-3 additional seconds before it will allow the car to move, causing car to stall when engaging the clutch into gear. 50 years experience driving manual transmission cars - this defect is diabolical and patently unsafe. My last VW had a hill hold feature which released in concert with engaging clutch, so no stalls. This is fixable with software update! Please force VW to fix their dangerously defective car. This occurs ALL OF THE TIME and is not an isolated incident to my car - it is a design defect wreaking havoc with all GTI manual transmission owners of the Mark VIII iteration. It is only a matter of time before someone gets hurt.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

The hill assist feature does not let go of the brakes when I apply throttle and has caused me to stall the vehicle on a hill multiple times. I would request a recall be made to allow the driver to not have the brakes engaged when throttle is applied when starting from a stop on a hill with manual transmission equipped gti's/golf r's.

SERVICE BRAKES

The automatic “hill assist” is dangerous in that it makes it easy to stall your car when trying to use your manual transmission. It’s unintuitive and truly frustrating and can cause you to stall your car when you are pulling into traffic. The previous implementation of this on the Mk7 VW GTI’s worked well but VW made this way too intrusive and complicated - and dangerous - on the Mk8 VW GTI’s. There is no option to disabled it or change the behavior.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

22 days after purchasing, the sunroof blew up & shattered while driving. Produced a loud bang and shattered upwards. Volkswagen has declined warranty fix. There where no vehicles in front or behind me nor, was I going in an underpass. Nothing impacted the glass sunroof, it just exploded upwards.

SERVICE BRAKES

The 8th generation of the VW Golf (and 7th generation Jetta) has a dangerous Hill Start Assist for manual transmission cars that cannot be disabled. When stopped on an incline, the car holds the brakes after the driver removes their foot from the pedal for a variable amount of time (upwards of 2 seconds), which was originally designed to help start on steep inclines. This is dangerous for a number of reasons. The first is that it's impossible to gauge when the car will release the brakes, so it will always roll backwards. The reaction of the driver to rolling backwards, instead of timing the movement from brakes to accelerator is much more difficult and often causes more delays due to stalling. The second is that the driver has no visibility to a sensor or light for this mechanism, making it very unpredictable. Lastly, drivers behind the vehicle see the brake lights go off when the driver lifts their foot, but the car is unable to move for multiple seconds, which causes more risk of injury, accident, and overall traffic.

STEERING

Travel Assist is disabled which includes Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Keep Assist. The warning lights flash on and off, sometimes multiple times a second, sounding a loud beeping each time. It is triggered at engine start and persists through all speeds. I have experienced it 0-70 mph. The flashing lights and associated rapid beeping indicating the failure is extremely distracting while driving. Warning lights and warning sounds are designed to alert the driver to a potential safety issue so ignoring the lights and sounds is dangerous in the event it is a different caution/warning. However, also not ignoring it is dangerous because of the frequency of the warnings which causes the driver to look away from the road. After speaking with the maintenance department at my VW dealership, they indicated that this is a widely known problem that is remedied only with the replacement of the steering wheel. There are several other sensors that are triggered by the same issue I was told by the maintenance department. They are uncertain at this time if it impacts the airbag system which is another potential safety concern. The steering wheel can only be ordered after inspection by the maintenance department and there is shortage and/or back order of the part to fix the problem.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL

Travel Assist is disabled which includes Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Keep Assist. The warning lights flash on and off, sometimes multiple times a second, sounding a loud beeping each time. It is triggered at engine start and persists through all speeds. I have experienced it 0-70 mph. The flashing lights and associated rapid beeping indicating the failure is extremely distracting while driving. Warning lights and warning sounds are designed to alert the driver to a potential safety issue so ignoring the lights and sounds is dangerous in the event it is a different caution/warning. However, also not ignoring it is dangerous because of the frequency of the warnings which causes the driver to look away from the road. After speaking with the maintenance department at my VW dealership, they indicated that this is a widely known problem that is remedied only with the replacement of the steering wheel. There are several other sensors that are triggered by the same issue I was told by the maintenance department. They are uncertain at this time if it impacts the airbag system which is another potential safety concern. The steering wheel can only be ordered after inspection by the maintenance department and there is shortage and/or back order of the part to fix the problem.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Travel Assist is disabled which includes Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Keep Assist. The warning lights flash on and off, sometimes multiple times a second, sounding a loud beeping each time. It is triggered at engine start and persists through all speeds. I have experienced it 0-70 mph. The flashing lights and associated rapid beeping indicating the failure is extremely distracting while driving. Warning lights and warning sounds are designed to alert the driver to a potential safety issue so ignoring the lights and sounds is dangerous in the event it is a different caution/warning. However, also not ignoring it is dangerous because of the frequency of the warnings which causes the driver to look away from the road. After speaking with the maintenance department at my VW dealership, they indicated that this is a widely known problem that is remedied only with the replacement of the steering wheel. There are several other sensors that are triggered by the same issue I was told by the maintenance department. They are uncertain at this time if it impacts the airbag system which is another potential safety concern. The steering wheel can only be ordered after inspection by the maintenance department and there is shortage and/or back order of the part to fix the problem.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING

There wasn't a proper "Problem Parts" option for my issue. My car has a manual transmission and VW has decided that adding a brake hold feature whenever the car is stopped at an intersection or in traffic etc. would be a good idea. I'm hear to tell you I have almost become part several accidents with this car even though it only has 40 miles on it. This is a well know issue with these cars that has been designed into them. I have been driving manual transmission cars for over 20 years without this issue. The problem is when I come to a stop the car holds the brake for an additional three Mississippi seconds. This screws up timing when pulling out into traffic which will likely cause an accident at some point. I have stalled the car trying to pull out into traffic and while in stop and go traffic. Luckily the person behind me was able to slam on their brakes before ramming me. I have considered rolling though stop signs to avoid stopping and possibly stalling the car. There have been many complaints about this online. The problem could easily be fixed with a software update from VW. Realistically if there was a brake hold with only 1 Mississippi hold time it would be great or none at all.