Jetta Recall: Honk horn, car shuts off.
The new 2011 US-market Jetta is quickly earning a reputation among the automotive press as a forgettable, downmarket lump on four wheels. Unfortunately, defects like this make the Jetta unintentionally memorable.
Imagine rolling down the road at 60mph and blasting your horn at someone just about to cut you off, when suddenly your brand new Jetta rolls to a stop. Volkswagen says the problem is rare.
Under certain rare circumstances using the horn could cause a short circuit that would, in turn, cause an electronic part called a converter box to disconnect from the car’s power supply, a VW spokeswoman said.
The converter box supplies power to various components, including the headlights, wipers and the engine controller. Cutting off power to the engine controller shuts off the car’s engine.
The previous Jetta was a fun, lively, tightly assembled machine with sharp styling and an unusually nice interior. Volkswagen charged accordingly for the level of sophistication.
The new generation uses a rear torsion beam to save on production costs and comes with a significantly downgraded interior that’s on par with the Corolla but quite a step down from the Hyundai Elantra. Volkswagen’s intent is to break free of its niche status (less than 2% of the US market) and conquer North America with value-priced cars. The problem is, GM, Ford, and Hyundai are already ten steps ahead with the Cruze, Focus, and Elantra, offering high value and low sticker prices.
Using VW’s cult-cool Apple-like brand cachet to sell downgraded cars may actually work in the short term, but its like charging 25% less for a tub of ice cream that’s 50% smaller. Eventually, customers feel like they’ve been duped.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/28/autos/vw_jetta_horn_recall/index.htm?hpt=T2
No engine, no power steering. No power brakes after the first couple uses due to no engine vacuum.
My brother rolled a Ford Escort into a ravine in these circumstances. It was the famous ignition module of death problem. This is worse since most people use their horns to avoid things that can cause wrecks.
Even worse than the “never stops honking” Chrysler Sebring.