I bought the car used with 15,777 miles on it in Sept 2015. In Jan of 2016, I took it to my trusted VW tech (dealer) in El Paso for multiple reasons and during a test drive with him, mentioned that it always felt like I wasn't going to stop and that I had to throw it into what I call "Manual Mode" to get the car to stop properly. He explained the transmission and said that was just something that I would have to get used to. This tech is someone that I trust COMPLETELY, as he has worked on my VW's for years...so I tried to trust the car to stop. I still noticed occasions where it didn't feel like it was going to stop. Especially at slow speeds.

On July 21st, I was in stop and go traffic on a two lane road. I left a car length and a half between me and the car in front of me, in case of sudden stops. (I drove semi's for many years and I am a very safe driver. I saw too many people get hurt or killed because they were following too closely.) Well, we were starting to move and the girl in front of the guy in front of me decided to suddenly stop to turn into the gas station. He bumped her, leaving no damage. I applied the brake and the car continued to pull. I was even using two feet, as human nature is to try hit them harder to get it to stop. The car continued to pull. This happened at less than 15 MPH. Next thing I know, I am looking at my car crunched into/under the car in front of me-both of my airbags deployed. My son ended up with an airbag bruise in the abs, I ended up with airbag scratches on my right arm. The child in the back seat had no marks or injuries. The car was totaled, and severe damage to the car in front of me. I had no choices to swerve either way to avoid the accident, as to the left, I would have hit oncoming traffic and to the right, a 5 foot drop and trees. After the accident, several people had told me they heard about the same things with VWs. I Googled 2013 Jetta brake problems, and there are a lot of accounts of this situation, but as far as I can find, no class actions.

From the first time I drove the car off the lot the brakes have been extremely squeaky. The Dealership told this was normal and will go away as soon as I start driving the car on a daily basis. I took it back to the dealership because they have gotten worse sense October. I was told that VW says this is normal for the Hybrid models and there is nothing they can do. So I asked the service tech, your telling me that the brakes are going to squeak for the rest of the time I own this car? He just said yes, VW says this is normal. WHAT THE HELL!!!

Now just last week I had to slam on the brakes and the car took too long to stop. I had to swerve on to the emergency lane to avoid slamming into the car in front of me. On other occasions just a light tap on the brakes at a stop sign the car brakes as if you slammed on them. This is a safety issue and VW has to do something about the poor quality of the brakes, it is in worse condition than my 9 year old Ford. I do not feel safe driving my family around in this vehicle.