1999 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT — SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:ANTILOCK/TRACTION CONTROL/ELECTRONIC LIMITED SLIP:CONTROL UNIT/MODULE

I AM ONE A LARGE AND GROWING NUMBER OF PERSONS WITH VOLKSWAGEN'S AND AUDI'S WHO HAVE ABS (AUTOMATIC BRAKING SYSTEMS) THAT HAVE STOPPED WORKING AFTER THE CAR HAS BEEN DRIVEN ONLY 40,000 - 50,000 MILES. THE EXTENT OF THE PROBLEMS CAN BE DISCERNED BY A WEB DISCUSSION GROUP DEVOTED TO PEOPLE WITH THIS SOLE PROBLEM (BENTLEY PUBLISHERS AT HTTP://TECH.BENTLEYPUBLISHERS.COM/THREAD.JSPA?FORUMNAME=VOLKSWAGEN.B.B5&THREADID=6316 ). WITH THIS MANY PEOPLE HAVING FOUND THE WEBSITE, ONE CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE LARGE QUANTITY OF OTHER PEOPLE WHO HAVE THIS SNAFU. OUR EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN THAT VW/AUDI APPEARS TO REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE PROBLEM. LATELY, SEVERAL PERSONS HAVE SAID THAT THE PROBLEM IS GENERALLY BEING CAUSED BY THE ELECTRICAL UNIT IN THE ABS MODULE. YET AT THIS POINT, VW AND AUDI ARE HAVING USERS REPLACE THE ENTIRE UNIT. THIS COST IS PROHIBITIVE FOR MANY OF US ($2600 IN MY CASE). IN THE MEANTIME, MANY OF US ARE HAVING TO DRIVE WITH FAULTY ABS SYSTEMS, WITH RESULTANT SAFETY PROBLEMS: FOR ME, THE ABS PROBLEM CAUSES THE BRAKES TO GO ON AT INAPPROPRIATE TIMES. THE BRAKES ON MY CAR GRAB AND ACTIVATE UNEXPECTEDLY DURING THE FIRST SEVERAL MINUTES OF DRIVING AFTER MY CAR HAS SAT OVERNIGHT. OTHERS HAVE EXPERIENCED THIS TOO. I FEAR THAT THIS MAY CAUSE AN ACCIDENT. THIS PROBLEM ON MY CAR SEEMS TO BE GROWING WORSE. THE MORE OBVIOUS SAFETY HAZARD IS THAT ALL OF THESE CARS LACK THE ABS DURING CRUCIAL TIMES OF DRIVING ON ICY OR WET PAVEMENT. AGAIN, THIS PROBLEM I