My wife and I were driving out of parking lot, turning into the main street when suddenly we hear a loud explosion and inside the car was cover in a cloud of smoke and white power. It took us few min to realize what happened since we both had ringing ear for a moment. We finally we were able to come back and think straight again to realize that the front passenger and side-head curtain airbag deployed, we inspected the car to see if we got hit another car, no external damage indication any type of crash.

- Madison , WI, USA

The airbag warning indicator light in the instrument cluster illuminated and stayed on. The driver's seatbelt buckle part (1Y1858471G - "fcn buckle") had failed. This part also failed 7/06 at 45,900 miles along with the comparable part for the passenger's seat. The airbag system is inoperative when this part does not function. In 8/06 VW made a partial, goodwill warranty adjustment.

- Selkirk, NY, USA

I was driving my 2002.5 Gti down the road at about 40mph when the passenger side curtain and seat air bags went off. The road was straight and smooth other than normal expansion joints. My wife was in the passenger seat and has bruising and minor burns on her arm. Once the bags went off the car shut off but I was able to maneuver it off the road way safely. I have contacted vwoa about the incident and I hope they will satisfactorily resolve the issue.

- Nekoma, KS, USA

While driving in a parking lot at a speed of about 5 mph, I hit a curb and the driver side curtain airbags deployed. There was a loud bang and the car filled with smoke. I called VW and they said that regardless of the speed of the accident if the car feels anything near the crash sensors the airbags will deploy even though there was no need and actually made the situation more dangerous and troublesome.

- Houston, TX, USA

The contact owns a 2002 Volkswagen Gti. While driving approximately 35 mph, the contact drove over a medium sized pothole, and the driver side curtain and side rear air bags deployed. There were no injuries or crash involved. The current mileage was 58,580 and failure mileage was 58,570.

- Jaimaca, NY, USA

The contact owns a 2002 Volkswagen Gti. While driving 75-80 mph, the side air bags deployed without warning and the vehicle lost complete power. As of December 13, 2007, the dealer had not inspected the vehicle. The current and failure mileages were 67,000. Updated 3/4/08 the dealer decided to fix the vehicle at their expense.

- San Diego, CA, USA

As I was driving home from visiting my parents in Louisiana over the holidays. I was getting onto 45/75 going North from interstate 30W here in dallas, tx. As I cross over the lanes, I hear a really loud pop. There was a large flash and the car filled with smoke. I was really surprised, which caused me to swerve to miss another car. I had no idea what went wrong. My first assumptions were that either I blew a tire or that someone had shot a firearm at my vehicle. I pulled over downtown and inspected the vehicle. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the exterior of my vehicle (tires were fine and I did not hit anything). For some reason my passenger side upper front and rear air bags deployed as did the side air bag in the seat. I have no idea why this happened and have never had any issues with the airbags. I am very happy and fortunate that I did not have a passenger in my car at the time and that I did not get into an accident. I am reporting this to vwoa.

- Dallas, TX, USA

After running up a curb in my 2002 Gti 337 while turning left at an appropriate speed, the driver and passenger front airbags spontaneously deployed without any front-end collision. The deployment caused burns and brusing to my arms. The airbags had no reason to go off, as there was no damage the front bumper or hood. Some of these vehicles were held up at port prior to delivery due to airbag sensor issues. These problems should have been addressed and repaired prior to delivery of the vehicle.

- Glendale, AZ, USA

After hitting a minor pothole the front air bag unexpectedly deployed.

- Bethpage, NY, USA