Apparently, in the 2011 US Market Jetta, using your horn can shut off your engine.
They've issued a recall. This does not enhance my perception of VW in the least, and a GTI or Jetta Wagon was on the shortlist to replace my wife's car in a year or so.
Volkswagen and electrics. Go together like peanut butter and jelly
Or Accents and Carmel ;)
DukeOfUndersteer wrote:Volkswagen and electrics. Go together like peanut butter and jelly
It was a long time ago, I admit, but I had a friend with a Karmann Ghia. If you turned it off with the (factory) radio on, the engine would stay running even if you took the keys out. It would keep running until you turned the radio off.
You'd figure after 40 years of "German engineering" they'd have figured this crap out.
The problems with linking everything through a common computer?
New bumper stickers "Honk if you want to stop your VW"
Wonder if DBW has anything to do with it? 
No less than I've grown to expect out of VW.
Is Audi plagued with all the same electrical gremlins that VW has? Why not?
How do they even get it to do that?
I like my VW's like I like my cheap dates.
Simple of mind, light in body, and a wild ride when you make them scream.
Yeah, no VW's younger than '98 for me.
carguy123 wrote:No less than I've grown to expect out of VW.
Is Audi plagued with all the same electrical gremlins that VW has? Why not?
Yes they are. In fact they install a lot more electronic gizmotry in the Audis, so it's even worse.
As a friend of mine with a shop likes to say, "Audi's and VW's come from the factory with the check engine light one and at least one blown tail light".
i wish the CEL came the same color as the rest of the dash, since its always on
Jay wrote:How do they even get it to do that?
It's all in the CAN-BUS system.
carguy123 wrote:No less than I've grown to expect out of VW.
Is Audi plagued with all the same electrical gremlins that VW has? Why not?
Yes.
My '78 Scirocco was plagued with electrical gremlins. It didn't even have power windows but yet something electrical was always malfunctioning. You'd think they would have tried to figure out the basics before they moved on to the complicated stuff.
The English earned their reputation for electrical maladies but the Germans have carried on that legacy and turned it into an art form.
Well, they should can the bus system, then. Don't tell Wally.
Whats that old saying---Joseph Lucas may have invented darkness, but it took Robert Bosch to perfect it.
carguy123 wrote:No less than I've grown to expect out of VW.
Is Audi plagued with all the same electrical gremlins that VW has? Why not?
yes
John Brown wrote:It's all in the CAN-BUS system.
John Brown wrote:Jay wrote:How do they even get it to do that?
It's all in the CAN-BUS system.
CAN-BUS? Is that legel for electrical engineers to use in Germany?
and people thought that italian cars had electrical problems... at least all of FIat's are caused by bad grounds
This poster was not an ad, it was a prophecy.
To make it worse, there's low voltage CAN and high voltage CAN (high and low being relative terms, of course). All the time I have customers saying 'it did (insert weird thing here) a couple of times, some warning lights came on but now it runs fine'. You check for fault codes and get a bunch of gobbledeygook which are generally related to low voltage but the battery and alternator test fine.
Or the weird brake, tail and turn signal problems which just about always come from the rear SAM module. When you flip on the lights, hit the turn signals, hit the brakes etc there is no true connection; for instance the brake light switch signals the SAM (via the CAN circuit) to turn on the brake lights. 
Why? WTF was the reason for doing that? 
Or the SLK's which come in with the turn signals malfunctioning and the owner says they can't find the flasher. That's because Bosch/Mercedes put it inside the $800.00 front control unit. It's soldered to the circuit board. Gee, no wonder you can't find it. whip the cover off the module; maybe you can fix it, maybe you can't. Way to go, guys.
