2004 Volkswagen Touareg Engine cooling Problems

“I was driving a short distance from my house (2 miles) when I noticed my car not driving normally. I had driven it the 3 previous days with no problem. I finished my errand, then proceeded to head home. It was noticeably getting worse. I smelled something at a stoplight, not sure if it was my car, or car alongside of me. I saw a light had come on, on my dashboard (ck. Engine?) and looked at the gauges, everything was normal. I decided to head home first to have my neighbor follow me up to repair shop. …”

“While accelerating onto the highway, a loud, repetitious bang/clunk from the middle underside of the vehicle started, sounding similar to a blown tire. No abnormal operations noted prior to this. Limped the car back to the shop at 15 MPH and found the center driveshaft carrier bearing failed. The service tech acted as if this was common and was not surprised. I have a 1981 mercury with over 305000 miles and never lost a bearing in my driveshaft. Mechanical parts fail. The worst part of this event is voa's reaction that somehow they are not responsible for a poor/weak design. …”

“I bought a 2004 Volkswagen Touareg new and treated it like a baby. Dealer service, never off-road. At 80,000 miles (I commute 200 miles per day on the freeway) the engine blew. Dealer said that after the vehicle had been parked and turned off the fuel injector partially filled a cylinder with liquid gasoline. Later when the vehicle was started the piston slammed into the liquid and blew the engine. Parts alone to repair are $15,000. Since the cost of repairs exceeds the value of the vehicle I won't be repairing it -- it is a total loss.”

“When pulling out into traffic from a stop vehicle intermitently hesitates for a few seconds. It seems as though the engine is not responding to the electronic throttle or the transmission is slipping. This is a dangerous problem when pulling inot traffic from a side street or making aleft turn into oncoming traffic. I was almost rea-ended the other day. I also feel that if I make a left turn into ongoing traffic with a normal margin of safety, the vehicle could hestitate and I could be hit head-on or broadsided. It is a dangerous problem. I have returned the vehicle to the dealer twice. …”

“Consumer complained about intermittent stalling. When driving on the highway at approximately 60 MPH vehicle stalled as if the motor shut down. When this occurred vehicle lost power. Has took vehicle to dealer, and contacted manufacturer. Yet none of them seemed to know how to resolve the problem.”