My car is a 2009 VW Rabbit at the time of the incident it had about 10,000 miles. I was in gridlock traffic on 1-84 on July 3rd, 2009. As I was waiting in traffic, I noticed a burning smell and that when I engaged the clutch the RPM's would rev but it took the car a bit of time to move. I called the dealership to set an appointment but they were dismissive about the whole incident. Then on 8/30/09 on a trip from schoon lake NY to bethel, ct the clutch failed. At the beginning of my trip from schroon lake, NY to bethel, ct, I noticed that when I depressed the clutch it would stay pressed to the floor and would not change gears. This was the only occurrence so I assumed it was safe to continue traveling. Midway through my trip as I was on the taconic state parkway the clutch pedal when pressed stayed depressed and would not come back up and the car would not go into gear at all. I had to make an emergency stop on the side of the road and wait for assistance because the car was no longer drivable. I had the car towed to the dealership who then insisted that it was driver abuse and not faulty parts. I did extensive research online and found other VW drivers who experienced the same issues with their cars and who the dealership would not rectify the situation. What the problem seems to be is the dual mass flywheel has a tendency to overheat affecting the pressure plates and the master and slave cylinder which can make it appear to be driver abuse when in fact it is not. I have driven two Toyota tercels(1991 and 1997) both manuals prior to this car for a total of 15 years and both fitted with hydraulic clutches and never had a problem. In fact both clutches lasted over 100,000 miles. After many discussions with the dealership who refused to cover the part under warranty, I contacted my insurance and the part was covered under my mechanical breakdown insurance. The dealership replaced the dual mass flywheel and the clutch disc and I currently have the replaced parts.

- Bethel, CT, USA