I have a 2008 Volkswagen Jetta. I purchased it new in August 2008. The rear brakes wore into the rotors at 12,000 miles. The dealership repair shop had just informed me that the brakes were fine at 10,000 miles. The rotors and brakes had to be replaced at my cost as it is not a warranty item but a wear item. At my 20,000 mile checkup, I was again told that my brakes were fine and had 50% remaining. I took the car to meineke to have the brakes double checked. I was shown that the rear calipers are defective. They do not allow the emergency brake to disengage. As such, my emergency brake is constantly on, causing my brakes to lock on to the rotor. The mechanic had to use a crow bar to pry loose the emergency brake. I was told that I cannot use the emergency brake until it is fixed. I have a 5 speed and this is concerning that I cannot use the emergency brake. The dealership explained that the warranty will only allow them to replace one caliper at a time. If the other one is broken, then I have to wait until I drive it a while after one is replaced. I have seen a lot of data online about the exact same problem in several model years of the Volkswagen Jetta. Interestingly, my dealership was out of the calipers and had to reorder more. I am very frustrated that my safety has been in jeopardy as my brakes could have once again failed. I am upset that the dealership neglected to correct the problem. I had to take it to a different mechanic to finally have the problem correctly diagnosed. Incidentally, part of my engine went out within the first 6 months of owning the car. I have also had to have the front end repainted as it began chipping immediately. Now the door edges and the top edge of the hood are chipping.

- Harrisonville, MO, USA

I bought a 2008 Jetta from rod East VW in late June, in late July my brake light came on, I then called rod East VW to inform them and they told me to call their roadside assistance to have them tow my car over to them. One week had passed and they had still not looked at my car so I informed them that I would need a rental car because I am a student and I have a daughter that has numerous therapy and dr appt every week. They said fine and the man that I was talking to said let me go get your child seat out of the car for you, he then came back to me and said how about you come to the back and get it from your car, I did and that's when I noticed that my car had a big dent and deep scratch from the rear right fender to the back passenger door...I was then told that that's how the car was when they got it and that it was my fault. He then said that he could talk to the manager and see what he would say. I called the manager, on my way home and he said we will fix it, I see that its a new dent and scratch and we will send it to a body shop to get fixed. I then demanded that I get all oem parts and I was it brand new again and the service man said that's going to be too expensive and it didn't need new parts he also wanted me to return the rental when I left on vacation to san francisco, that's when I spoke to the manager again and he guaranteed that they would be oem parts and I wouldn't need to return the rental. When I picked up my car after 3 and a half weeks they said nothing was wrong with my brakes and the light was out. I noticed the next day that my 12 volt lighters were not working and I called the manger and he told me to come in. I never did because I didn't want them to work on my car again. Today I took it to ancira VW and they said I had some wires mixed up, I started to drive off the lot and my brake light came back on! that can not be a coincidence and it tells me that some wires were changed to hide the fact that nothing was ever done by rod East.

- San Antonio, TX, USA