I was driving on the 101 freeway at 4pm on my way home from work in moderate to heavy traffic when I braked thinking it was closer to the car in front of me then I actually was and hit my brake; my foot when to the floor, the car did not stop but skidded and spun around. I landed facing the opposite direction on the edge of an embankment without hitting any other car. I called 911 thinking it would roll down the embankment and was able to crawl out of the passenger side door. There was brush on the side of the freeway which prevented me from rolling down. My car is currently at the shop and waiting for inspection.

- Sherman Oaks, CA, USA

I was approaching a red light when suddenly the ABS brake light came on, followed by every light on my dashboard. My car stalled and came to a complete stop. Fortunately I was in the right hand lane of a semi-busy street and was able to wait until my car started up again. Had I been on the freeway with my two small children in the backseat, I have no doubt that this would have caused a serious accident or death. I was told that I need to replace my complete ABS system. I have approximately 72,000 miles on this car and have serviced it regularly. There is no reason for a part which affects the electrical system and safety of the driver should go out this soon unless it is a defective part - period!!! I know that hundreds have experienced the same problem as me as I have read their complaints online. VW needs to immediately make the repairs necessary to correct this problem in order to make their vehicles safe to the public and before anyone is injured or dies. If VW ignores this problem, instead of dealing with repairs, VW will be dealing a class action suit. Please take note, VW.

- Aliso Viejo, CA, USA

Upon driving through a highway interchange at a lower rate of speed the electronic stability control disconnected with an amber solid light on the instrument cluster indicating so, the anti-lock braking system also disengaged indicated as well with an amber solid light on the instrument cluster, and the brake light was flashing red on the instrument cluster. Upon turning off the car and turning it back on it resets, however the issue is becoming more common as time goes on.

- Houston, TX, USA

Anti-lock brake and stability control failure during braking event. During braking event on slippery surface: 1.) ABS engaged as normal at start of braking event. 2.) ABS stopped working and wheels locked up resulting in vehicle rotation. 3.) stability control and brake warning lights came on accompanied by a beep. 4.) after braking event warning lights remained on and ABS/stability were non-functional. 5.) after car restart warning lights were gone and ABS/stability control worked. Under gentle braking on slippery surface ABS works. Able to consistently recreate issue with hard braking or hard acceleration on slippery surface. There is no indication of an issue prior to failure. Car was checked by VW dealership prior to failure and no error codes were returned pertaining to ABS/stability control.

- Cambridge , MA, USA

The contact owned a 2009 Volkswagen Jetta. While driving at approximately 45 mph and applying the brake pedal, the ABS, the stability, and the brake warning lights illuminated. In addition, there was a loud abnormal noise and the vehicle spun out of control. The vehicle flipped three times and crashed into a bush. The air bags did not deploy. There were no injuries. The contact did not disclose if a police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the rear passenger axle was fractured. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 75,000.

- Bellflower, CA, USA

ABS control module failure is very common for MK5 Jetta's and golf's. mine failed approaching a red light in a foot of snow, resulting in a loss of the traction control, ABS and stability control. Volkswagen needs to do the right thing and issue a technical service bulletin before there is a loss of life.

- Montgomery, IL, USA

My VW Jetta tdi had many problems since I purchased it. First, we had problems with the injection system imploding. They asked if we ever put in gasoline instead of diesel. I told them absolutely not. They wanted to charge me $6500 because car was out of warranty but service manager got VW to pay for it because I said I was going to get an attorney. On June 27, 2014 we had with an electrical problem where the battery was draining from a short in the radio modulator. The car had 101,348 miles. They fixed the problem which took 9 days to fix and cost $1238.56. I noticed the radio would stayed on with the key out of the car after that though. Then we had the check engine, air bag, ABS and traction lights on at 109,452. I took it to my service station on 11/28/2014, but he said the dealer had to program update the software and check the ABS module for electrical problem. The dealer said it was the O2 sensor on number 2 cylinder. They found no problems with the air bag, ABS module or traction control. They charged me $600. The lights were all off. On January 3, my 17 year old daughter and her girlfriend went to the movies last night with the car. It was lightly raining out. She left the movie theatre around 8:20 pm. She came up to an intersection that was turning red. She applied the brakes and skidded through the intersection hitting another vehicle that was crossing. She was doing about 40 mph. She said the car did not want to stop. She said there where lights on the dashboard when she was driving. People in the other car went to hospital.

- Forked River, NJ, USA

Intermittent electrical problems from undetermined source for last year, ended up losing all lights on passenger side of car, and some lights/light function on driver's side, including brake lights, turn signals, headlights etc. Random security alarm going off without being able to turn it off, brake warning lights, traction control issues. After a quick internet search I became aware that this is a very common problem and known VW issue, and found F16 fuse to be melted along with a portion of the fuse box. Called the only VW dealer in the city 10/23/14 and was told I had two safety recalls on my car, one for an ECM software update and one for this electrical issue, neither of which I was notified of, yet have been notified to have the "diesel only" sticker installed, and haven't moved since long before I purchased the car. Dealer is not able to look at my vehicle until 10/27/14 and cannot provide a loaner car since Volkswagen won't reimburse them for that cost. Called Volkswagen customer service and spoke with doug, only to be told they could not authorize rental car reimbursement, and I would need to either shoulder that expense myself or continue driving the car in it's current state. Informed him that the car was not safe to be driven with the lighting issues, and fuse F16 being tied into ABS as well, was told he couldn't help me. If they had done the correct thing, I wouldn't be left in an unsafe car to Transport my family, due to their engineering design negligence.

- Newburgh, IN, USA

2009 Jetta tdi sportwagen. During a panic stop to avoid an accident the ABS and atc (traction control) dash indicator lights came on solid along with an alarm and the brake indicator light flashing on and off. During this panic stop both rear brakes locked. Turning the ignition off and on reset the indicator lights. Ten minutes later I attempted to duplicate the incident on a quiet side street by driving at 20 mph and hitting the brakes hard enough to engage the ABS. Once again the indicator lights came on and alarm sounded. Dealer diagnosed problem as failure of the ABS controller. Research on internet indicated that this is a common problem with 2009 Jettas with hundreds of similar occurrences. The part is $1750 plus labor to install brings total to $2200. The ABS controller is not a wear item and should not be failing on a car which has 62,400 miles on it. The car has been dealer maintained and serviced since new. This was the first time the ABS had been engaged other than during the winter on snow covered roads.

- Schenectady, NY, USA

I replaced the brake pads on the above described VW. For more completeness it is a VW Jetta 2009 sportwagen, tdi (diesel). The 4 front brake pad thicknesses were about 3/16", the 4 rear brake pad thicknesses were 1/16". this is very unusual. All cars that I have owned etc. Experience faster front pad wear than rear pad wear. This is also what VW expects as they have the electronic wear sensor on the front brake pad. I believe that this may be caused by a defective proportioning valve or by a too soft pad material.

- Branchburg, NJ, USA

Going down the interstate at 70mph beside a semi, the car slightly (not enough to take me out of my lane) pulls to the side & ding! ding! ding! 'ABS' & 'esp' lights come on & the emergency 'brake' light on the dash starts flashing. No additional symptoms that I noticed on the next 15miles to work, just the dash lights. Upon arriving at work I park & shut the car off. Restart it. And everything appears as thou it was an aberration. No lights. No dinging. From a car that goes nuts when you're simply just low on wiper-fluid, it could be something major like an ABS module or 'speed sensor' (from what 100S of other owners say online) or something 'minor' like a corroded fuse. Needless to say, while I'm wincing at the potential repair costs, I'm in fear of & dreading my drive home this evening. I'm glad no one was hurt this time but as we all know, the odds are someone is going to get hurt. Whatever is causing this problem for numerous VW owners is a safety issue. If ABS & traction control are mandatory features on a car via the NHTSA, it stands to reason that rampant problems such as VW Jetta owners are experiencing is a manufacturer's quality issue. It's not normal wear & tear. I actually trust the NHTSA to do the right things here; find out what the problem is & make VW fix it. The only other option the NHTSA has is to ignore a blatant problem with the ABS & traction stability controls of a mass production family sedan/vehicle.

- Owenton, KY, USA

Left rear brake assembly drags prematurely wearing brake pads and rotor. Worried that it may cause possible fire.

- Hagerstown, MD, USA

Second repair: Must replace both rear brake calipers due to them seizing up. Uneven brake pad wear. 40% on right rear pad remaining. 2% on left rear pad remaining. Issue also occurred under warranty at 10,000 miles. Several others report this issue occurring only to the left rear pad.

- Fontana, CA, USA

The ABS and parking brake light began to flash and beep constantly and the vehicle lost control for a small amount of time causing me to swerve a little bit but I regained control. I restarted the vehicle and it continues to flash and beep. This is said to be a known issue within the 09 models (the ABS pump and module failure), but the company has yet to issue a recall to cover the expense of replacement. It is said that, the ABS pump and module failure can cause the vehicle's brakes to lock up and not allow movement in close situations which can result in an accident. This is a safety hazard.

- Boston, MA, USA

The lr brake pads and rotors consistently show excessive wear. There were no problems noted with the emergency brake or caliper each time we have changed the brakes and only this left rear shows extreme wear. The left rear brakes have needed changing three times this past yea and I've changed the other brakes just to be safe. This last occurrence the vehicle failed to stop without the brake pedal being depressed as far as it would go, and even then the ability to stop was greatly diminished. Prior to this incident, a loud scraping noise was evident in the vehicle while rolling even without the brakes being depressed and many times the rear of the vehicle smelled like something was burning when it was parked following it being driven. The technician looked at the car and stated that the caliper was frozen and it seems that this issue continually occurs with this car even with a new caliper it will continue to have this happen.

- Eure, NC, USA

The lr brake pads and rotors consistently show excessive wear. There are no problems with the emergency brake or caliper noticed each time; however, the pads and rotors have needed replacement three times this year and only these left rear have shown the issue. At the last occurrence before this service, the vehicle failed to stop without the brake pedal being depressed as far as it was able to go and even then, the ability to stop was greatly diminished. Prior to this incident a loud scraping noise was evident in the vehicle while rolling even without the brake depressed and many times the rear of the vehicle had smelled like something was burning when it was parked directly after driving.

- Eure, NC, USA

My vehicle was stuck in a snow drift at the end of my road. I deactivated my electronic skid protection to get my vehicle free from the snow drift. I successfully made it onto the road and only going 20mpn due to icy roads and bad weather conditions. 1 to 2 miles down from where I was stuck, my ABS and esp light came on and I almost lost control but because I was going so slow, I was a ble to keep it on the road. I pulled into the closest gas station to investigate and my rear brakes were locked up and would not come loose. I thought they may ahve been frozen so I cleaned what snow was on there and actuated the brakes several times, moving my vehicle back and forth to break them loose. This did not work so I drove it about 4 miles to the closest VW dealership, which was very difficult due to the icy roads and my rear wheels locked up. The VW technician told me that because my rear wheels were stuck in that snow drift and my front tires were trying to get me unstuck, a code popped up which activated my rear brakes. He cleared the code and my car works perfectly fine. If this "code" had tripped 10 minutes later, I would have been on the highway traveling at higher speeds on very bad road conditions and would have cause an accident. I do not know if the dealership was truthful as to what they found, if it was truly a code or if they were just frozen shut which created the code. I just wanted to create a complaint to log this issue in case this happens again, I have proof of the issue and complaint.

- Muskegon, MI, USA

The contact owns a 2009 Volkswagen Jetta. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 mph, he noticed smoke and flames coming from the rear driver's side tire. The contact stated he was able to put the fire out with water. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic for diagnosis. The mechanic stated that the rear driver's side caliper had seized and overheated, which would have to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was repaired but the failure recurred. The VIN was not available. The approximate failure mileage was 56,000.

- Somerset, MA, USA

Has some strange noise as soon as I moved car first thing in the morning. Dropped off son at school and less than half a mile car was stuck when I tried to accelerate. Removed tire and loosened caliper and noticed disc was cracked and inner pad missing.

- Miami, FL, USA

ABS control module failed and rear brakes locked up.

- Mesquite, TX, USA