I purchased this Jetta VW used from my daughter. She was diligent about keeping the maintenance up to date. It had 115,000 miles when I purchased it and had to replace battery and rear brakes within 3 months although she had replaced rear brakes 6 months earlier. My complaint is the parking brake never seemed to hold and I would need to leave the car in gear when parking the car on a hill. The car had rolled back when I left the car parked at my work 6 months ago and it rolled back and hit the sidewalk curb. No damage at the time. Today I went to the store parked the car outside the stores entrance door. The lot has a very slight slope but generally level. I pulled back on the hand brake which seemed secure. When I left the car I was gone for less than 3 min when I entered the store. I had forgot my cellphone and returned to the car which was only 10 ft from door. It had rolled back about 50 ft and hit a tree. The crash caused damage to my rear right fender and quarter panel in the amount of over $2000. This crash was direct result of a faulty hand brake. It was only a miracle that no car or children were hit by the car. Only a lone tree was damaged.
I believe this is a defect of this model. My daughter confirmed that this had also occurred with her after setting the parking brake to his full stop position. I believe VW should take responsibility for the damages.
I purchased this Jetta VW used from my daughter. She was diligent about keeping the maintenance up to date. It had 115,000 miles when I purchased it and had to replace battery and rear brakes within 3 months although she had replaced rear brakes 6 months earlier. My complaint is the parking brake never seemed to hold and I would need to leave the car in gear when parking the car on a hill. The car had rolled back when I left the car parked at my work 6 months ago and it rolled back and hit the sidewalk curb. No damage at the time. Today I went to the store parked the car outside the stores entrance door. The lot has a very slight slope but generally level. I pulled back on the hand brake which seemed secure. When I left the car I was gone for less than 3 min when I entered the store. I had forgot my cellphone and returned to the car which was only 10 ft from door. It had rolled back about 50 ft and hit a tree. The crash caused damage to my rear right fender and quarter panel in the amount of over $2000. This crash was direct result of a faulty hand brake. It was only a miracle that no car or children were hit by the car. Only a lone tree was damaged.
I believe this is a defect of this model. My daughter confirmed that this had also occurred with her after setting the parking brake to his full stop position. I believe VW should take responsibility for the damages.
- Gilbert R., Matthews, US