Tl* the contact owns a 2009 volkswagen rabbit. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the speed odometer went to zero and the vehicle failed to accelerate forward. Several unknown warning lights illuminated. The vehicle had not been repaired nor diagnosed. A dealer was not contacted. The contact mentioned nhtsa campaign number: 16v913000 (service brakes, hydraulic, electronic stability control) as a possible solution to the failure however, the vin was not included. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The mileage was approximately 115,000.
Engine & cooling
Volkswagen Rabbit Engine problems by year
18 complaints filed with NHTSA about the Volkswagen Rabbit's engine & cooling. Stalling, loss of power, oil consumption, overheating, head gaskets, timing chains and engine failure.
Engine complaints by model year
Latest Rabbit engine complaints
Pulled car up to propane display outside of heb grocery store. Once tanks were exchanged, noticed smoke billowing from engine. Turned care off, got out and noticed fire underneath engine. Store employee got hood open, doused fire. Called wrecker to tow car home. On december 25, 2020 neighbor noticed smoke and burning wire smell coming from hood of car. Opened hood disabled battery.
Downshifting hard on its on oil leaking on top and bottom of engine
I had observed twice that the abs and brake system lights illuminated under heavy braking. I read the service manual and several vw forums and my understanding was that this was normal under what is called 'emergency break'. I both cases turning the ignition off and on again restored the car to normal. On february 2013 the abs/esc system failed and the car crashed against a wall while braking before a turn. Airbags did not deploy. We were two passengers on board: brian foxe and myself. Fortunately, none got hurt...
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although I had to be picked up by paramedics. We both have taken that turn many times and we could not explain what went wrong went we used the brakes before the turn. We never understood what happened until I got the recall. Since then, the abs failure had caused at least the following: -suffering from the crash and incredible amounts of stress which required therapy -i had to buy another car asap and I bought another 2007 rabbit -the 2009 rabbit was finally put back together on july august 2013 -the 2009 rabbit would lose abs/esc at the sightless break so it has been sitting as a backup car since then. -The car was serviced for a transmission issue on 2016 (volkswagen customer care 160612855) and after it came back from the dealer the symptoms disappeared. That makes me believe that either: ovw knew about abs/esc issues (safety recall 45f2) and preventively updated the ecu. Othe ecu was updated as a routine or as part of the transmission service. As per today, I believe I have a rabbit that has already had the ecu upgraded and cannot be diagnosed anymore. However, I have evidence and witnesses of what happened
The car would shake in the highway and would not accelerate at certain moment. Also stops randomly I don't know why my car acting that way and I am afraid to drive even the repair shop doesn't know what the issue is.
Defective coolant fan #2 manufactured by siemens. P1951 fault code for non operational coolant fan #2 occurred on 09/29/2011 at 122,163 miles for a 2007 vw rabbit. Vw dealership detected the fault and replaced the defective coolant fan #2 with a new siemens coolant fan #2 at owners request on 09/29/2011. On 08/20/2014 at 182,000 miles the replacement 09/29/2011 siemens coolant fan #2 failed and stopped working. A second fault code p1951 was detected by a certified and licensed private mechanic. Second siemens coolant fan #2 found defective in less than 3 years and 60,000 miles. Original coolant fan # 2 lasted 4 years and 122,000 miles. *Tr
I want to add a complaint to the volkswagen mark five model's crankshaft position sensor. For some reason, this senor at times does something to the engine and it kills the engine. It has happened twice in the span of 4 months. Everything is on, including headlights, all electrical systems, steering but at high speeds, the engine dies and I've had to coast to a stop to restart it and restarts without any problems. I've looked at forums to see what could be causing it and my pointed to the crankshaft positioning sensor. It's occurred to vehicles with high and low mileage. *Tr
My wife was driving her 2006 volkswagen rabbit on us 98 preparing to enter i-4 when the vehicle entered limp home mode (epc light & check engine light on) rpms went to over 3000 and vehicle refused to go above 25mph, she was almost killed by the semi that was behind her on us 98 luckily the semi swerved to avoid her. The vehicle was taken to the dealership and per their diagnostics the cam position sensor, air bag sensor in the passenger seat belt and battery were showing codes but they assured us that the problem...
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that caused limp home mode was the cam position sensor problem and replaced to the tune of over 700.00 Without changing battery or air bag sensor, four days later the same problem returned the dealership stated to bring vehicle back for re-diagnostics and if the cam position sensor is bad they will change it free, I replaced the battery and vehicle worked fine for another day then same problem resurfaced. After this has happened I can only say I will never buy or recommend a volkswagen again. I goggled the problem and it is listed all over the internet forms but volkswagen refuses to acknowledge there is a problem. It is not only their rabbit it is happening in many of their vehicles some with less then 3000 miles and they have bought those vehicle back form the customers to cover up the problem. This is a manufacturing design failure in their drive by wires system epc systems. Hopefully they have some really deep pockets because it's just a matter of time before someone get hurt or killed.
#1: Body: noted that driver's side door latch would not lock and trouble with securing. Door open alarm would not sound when door was open. Submitted vehicle to vw dealership for repair. Door latch was found to be defective. The door latch was replaced. #2: Engine: noted that fan would not engage. Dealership ran a gff. Found fault p1951 coolant fan #2 difficulty of movement/blocked. Ran test found #2 faulty. Dealership replaced cooling fan #2. *Kb
I own a 2007 volkswagen rabbit. About 4 months after I got it, it started stalling. Only when my car is idling. It also sputters and is not running smoothly. Recently I started hearing a knocking noise under my hood. I've taken it into the dealership over and over and they send me home, saying they cant replicate the problem. The knocking happens on a regular basis, the stalling randomly happens, sometime I can go weeks without my car stalling, other times its only a few days. They've done nothing to fix this problem, just send me on my way. I need answers, and this problem to be fixed. *Tr
I own a 2009 vw rabbit. About a year after owning it, I started noticing a moldy smell in the car every time I turned on the air conditioner and/or the heat. I took the car into the dealer and they said there was mold in the air conditioning unit and they would clean it. When I picked it up, I asked what was the problem, and they said I need to turn off the defroster/air conditioner a few minutes before turning off the car so any moisture drains out. In essence, there is no cure, just a fix. I wasn't happy...
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with the response. When I entered my car to leave, it smelled from some perfume they used to mask the mold smell. I am allergic to mold and mildew and have a variety of allergies. I had to leave the car windows open for a week to get rid of that odor. Now that it's fall, the weather is cooler and I'm using the heater. Although I haven't noticed the mold smell yet, I'm noticing headaches and sinus problems since I've been driving with the heater. I've driven american cars for 45 cars and never experienced this problem. I like the car otherwise, but cannot tolerate this problem. Why can't it be fixed permanently? I noticed complaints about the problem going back to at least 2002. *Tr
2006 Vw rabbit, 2.5L, 5 cyl. Has been stalling intermittently while idling, over and over again since buying this car brand new in 2006. I prefer not to give my vin # for confidentiality reasons. I have read numerous posts on forums online, including vw employees who own the car and claim vw of america is pretending like they don't know of such an issue when it has occurred many times. My car has been to the dealer many times and they say its fine, well I don't think it is and I have 2 little kids that ride in this car on a daily basis. *Tr
This is my second complaint. My 06 vw rabbit has been stalling since approx. The second month that I had it (bought 06/06). In august 08 after continually complaining about this issue my car first started to sputter "like the timing was off" while driving (not the first time for sputtering but it usually does it when idle, not driving). I took the car into dealership and they could find nothing wrong even though the car sputtered 3 times on my way back home. The very next morning the car started to smoke very bad,...
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smell like gasoline, and a light was flashing on the dashboard. I burned a 1/4 tank of gas driving approx 10 miles to dealership. The dealership had the car for two+ weeks and has since replaced the 02 sensor, fuel injectors, etc. However approx 2+ weeks after getting the car back it stalled again. The car is also occasionally making a strange knocking noise behind the steering wheel (which has also been an ongoing problem) and occasionally the tailpipe is "backfiring" not like a loud boom but like a release of air (which had only happened twice before and now happens more often). I can't stress enough how bad my nerves have become while sitting in traffic which is what I do at least twice a day. The car mostly stalls when the car is idle (i.E. Sitting at lights, sitting in traffic, parking spaces). Because the issue is sporadic I cannot get anyone to take this matter seriously because I have no way to prove it since the codes clear after the car is restarted and vw does not have a black box to record the incidents. I have found sites with people having the same problems and getting the same response from the dealerships. I think this unsolved mystery with the stalling is making the wear and tear on my engine worse because my car no longer runs the same and problems just keep getting worse. I don't want to wait for the warranty to run out before more serious problems show themselves. *Tr
Standard automatic rabbit 2.5 Coupe... Stalls often during take off after warm up. Not completely, but powering down from 1500 normal idling rpm to about 5-700 as if it is going to quit. If I back off on acceleration, it recovers slowly. Very dangerous when turning in front of oncoming traffic. Drivers behind me can't tell I am stopping because my foot is not on the brake. But when it will not go forward I jam on the brake to keep from getting t-boned by oncoming traffic! Happens primarily on left turns, but...
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occasionally on straight acceleration. 60 Or so times since taking the car in the early spring. Dealership says there is no problem with the car. Finally the report you show confirms a similar situation exists. I want this fixed! *Tr ... Updated 10/17/11 *bf
2007 Vw rabbit with 20,000 miles manual transmission stalls during take off after being warmed up. Taking off from a green light the car will suddenly and quickly come to a stop and have to be restarted causing traffic behind me to catch up very fast almost causing a collision. This has happened numerous times. I have had the car to the local vw dealer 3 times and the last time they had it for 2 weeks. The dealer has replaced spark plugs, coli packs, mass air flow sensor, catalytic converter, performed a static discharge on complete wiring system, reset throttle body and basic settings and reset readiness codes. The problem is still not solved. *Tr
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked daily. Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data