NHTSA complaint: 2000 VOLKSWAGEN GTI — POWER TRAIN:CLUTCH ASSEMBLY
MY 2000 VW GTI 1.8T MANUAL TRANSMISSION'S CLUTCH KEEPS FAILING. I ADMIT I DROVE IT AGGRESSIVELY WHEN I FIRST BOUGHT IT... AFTER ALL, THAT'S HOW THEY ADVERTISE THE VEHICLE, AS A SPORTY, FAST CAR. WELL, I'VE REPLACED IT THREE TIMES (YES, I'M ON MY FOURTH CLUTCH IN FOUR YEARS!!!) AND EVEN THOUGH AFTER EACH REPAIR I'VE REDUCED THE AGGRESSIVENESS OF MY DRIVING TO THE POINT WHERE I'M PRACTICALLY A LITTLE OLD GRANNY NOW, THE DURN THING KEEPS WEARING OUT AFTER ABOUT A YEAR, AND I CAN FEEL MY CURRENT ONE GETTING MUSHY, SEEMING TO SLIP, LIKE IT'S ABOUT TO GO OUT AGAIN. ONE INCIDENT IT HAPPENED ON THE HIGHWAY, AND I WAS LUCKY I WASN'T KILLED. BECAUSE I HAD TO COAST TO GET OFF THE FREEWAY, I FELT I NEEDED TO BE AS FAR TO THE RIGHT IN THE 'VEHICLE BREAKDOWN LANE' AS I COULD. WELL, THERE WAS A LARGE CHUNK OF METAL, A LARGE WATER SPIGOT OR SOMETHING, LYING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE EMERGENCY LANE AND, SINCE I COULDN'T VERY WELL SWERVE BACK INTO THE TRAFFIC SPEEDING NEXT TO ME AT WELL OVER TWICE MY OWN VELOCITY, I ENDED UP HITTING IT AND TEARING UP MY TRANSMISSION CASING (THE 'CRASH' I INDICATED). THIS IS GETTING RIDICULOUS. SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE. *AK
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — Office of Defects Investigation