1999 Volkswagen Golf Fuel system Problems

“The fuel pump on my 1999 vw GOLF has failed twice. I feel this is both a defect and highly dangerous. The fuel pump cracked and dumped fuel out onto the pavement. I was told that this was unusual, but when I was in the second time, I met another vw owner with the same exact problem. Vw continues to deny any responsibility and refuses to pay for the matter. The first occurrence happened on 9-10-01 at 26k miles, the second on 7-7-04 at 52000 miles.”

“Car started smelling strongly of gasoline on the inside as well as on the outside. A gasoline puddle was forming under the car when parked. Car could not be parked inside any further. Vw dealer replaced the fuel pump (old part is not available). Replacement parts were covered under warranty. I had to pay for labor.”

“Smell of gas heavy inside the car. Smell equally as bad if windows are rolled down. Gradual decrease in the miles to gallon. Took to dealership while under warranty. They replaced the fuel component that sits under the passenger side of back seat. Happened again one year and 1 month later. Car then out of warranty. Took to private mechanic. Fixed problem again. Told both times it was repaired that a cigarette on the road way could have cause car to explode due to gas spewing out of car. …”

“Dt: 1999 Volkswagen GOLF, fuel pump was leaking because the supply fitting was cracked. This was caused by a manufacturer's defect, which caused a pool of fuel to form under the back seat. Also, fuel was leaking out of the vehicle onto the ground. The consumer found various websites that there had already been a recall 05v154000 concerning this problem. In addition, the consumer had found that there was a letter from NHTSA to Volkswagen of america, pea-04-079. Consumer contacted the dealership, they indicated that they did not know anything about the recall. …”

“These 2 items concerned me greatly as to the safety of the vehicle. The plastic fuel line failed due to cold weather, below zero, and being hit by slush ball from a truck. Had the fuel line been metal, there would have been no failure. The second item, the headlights is more critical. They failed to work on low beam. This failure happened unannounced and is very dangerous. I drove the rest of the way home with my high beams on.”