Volkswagen Jetta 1996

• Recall 83408 [USA]: Decreased lighting visibility may result in a vehicle crash.
  Sabersport is recalling 16,270 combination corner and bumper lamp assemblies of various part numbers sold for use as aftermarket equipment for various passenger vehicles. These headlamps fail to conform to the requirements of federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 108, "lamps, reflective devices, and associated equipment." these lamps do not contain the required amber side reflectors.
  sabersport will notify owners and offer a full refund for the noncompliant combination lamps. The safety recall began on may 11, 2009. Owners may contact sabersport at 1-909-598-7589.
  this recall only pertains to aftermarket replacement equipment and has no relation to any original equipment installed on vehicles produced by the vehicle manufacturer.In order to determine if your aftermarket lamp assembly is affected by this noncompliance, please review the list of model numbers provided to us by sabersport.The list can be found under "document search" located at the bottom of your screen.Owners may also contact the national highway traffic safety administration's vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (tty 1-800-424-9153), or go to http://www.Safercar.Gov .

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• Recall 12342 [USA]: Unexpected opening of the hood could occur obstructing the driver's view of the road while driving, increasing the risk of a crash.
  Vehicle description: passenger vehicles. The bolts securing the front hood latch can loosen over time. The latch would move causing disengagement of the hood striker from the latch.
  dealers will inspect the hood latch and securing bolts and replace them if necessary.
  owner notification began october 15, 1998.Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact vwoa at 1-800-822-8987.Also contact the national highway traffic safety administration's auto safety hotline at 1-888-dash-2-dot (1-888-327-4236).

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• Recall 1998158 [Canada]: Structure
  The bolts securing the front hood latch may lose their specified fastening torque over time. Should this happen, the latch could move out of its design position and cause disengagement of the hood striker from the latch. In some vehicles the latch may not have been properly aligned during production. Repeated opening and closing of the hood with an improperly aligned latch could result in damage to the latch. Either condition could result in hood fly up and obstruction of the driver's vision. Correction: hood latches and securing bolts will be inspected and replaced if necessary.

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To ensure accuracy and for your safety, it is recommended to do a free VIN recall check here or here [USA] - UK - Canada.

Bulletins are notices put out by manufacturers in conjunction with the NHTSA to notify the public of manufacturing issues or changes.

• Fuel tank puncture investigation # EA00028

  
  

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• Light and /windshield wipers investigation # EA00020

  There is no summary currently available
  

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• Fuel tank puncture investigation # PE00033

  The office of defects investigation opened this investigation on august 10, 2000 based on 9 reports regarding punctured fuel tanks involving the jetta, passat, and cabrio models.The reports indicate additional reports in its response to the preliminary evaluation.This investigation has been upgraded for further study.
  

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• Lights and/or windshield wiper obscured investigation # PE00006

  There is no summary currently available
  

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• Hood latch failure investigation # PE98037

  Odi has received three reports, including the petitioners, regarding alleged hood latch failures.All of the odi reports indicate the hood flew up while driving.Following a telephone inquiry, volkswagen provided odi with some limited information regarding six additional reports of hood fly-up for model years 1995 and 1996.This investigation was opened to further study this issue.Defect description:"it is possible that on some of the affected vehicles the bolts securing the front hood latch may lose their specified fastening torque over time.Should this happen, the latch could move out of its design position and cause disengagement of the hood striker from the latch.In some vehicles the latch may not have been properly aligned during production.Repeated opening and closing of the hood with an improperly aligned latch could result in damage to the latch.Either condition could result in unexpected opening of the hood and could obstruct a portion of the drivers view of the road while driving, and result in an accident."remedy: "volkswagen of america, inc. Will initiate a voluntary safety recall instructing its authorized dealers to check the hood latch and securing bolts and replace them if necessary."
  

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Tl*the contact owns a 1996 volkswagen jetta. While driving approximately 25 mph, the vehicle experienced a sudden aggressive and forceful acceleration. The contact immediately depressed the brake pedal, but there was no response and the vehicle failed to slow down. The vehicle crashed into two parked vehicles. The ambulance and police were called to the scene and a police report was filed. The driver and the occupants in the parked vehicles were transported to the hospital and sustained moderate injuries. The cause of the failure and extent of the vehicle damage have not yet been determined. The mileages were unknown.

I own a 1996 vw jetta gls and my car smokes from my steering wheel column. I will be driving and out of no where white smoke pours out of the column. I thought it was because of my headlights being on but then noticed it doing it without them on. It even does it when the car is off! This i feel and my friend who has the same problem is a fire hazard and could be very dangerous to drive. I called a vw dealership and spoke to the mechanic and he told me he feared for my life and it sounds like a fire hazard or it could cause my breaks and other things on my car to fail. I could be driving down a highway at 65 and my car can just die. I have brought my car to 3 different mechanics for this problem and they all said they have no clue what it could be . In my case nothing leads up to this happening it just happens randomly at anytime with or without my lights on or blinkers being on. This is still an unknown cause but very scary, even scarier knowing its not just my car. *tr

When the vdo electronic instrument cluster "total" odometer reading crossed from 299,999 miles to 300,000 miles . . . The word "total" disappeared and mileage dropped to "0". The "trip" side of the odometer works ok. Now (05/06/2010) the jetta is about to cross 350,000 miles, but the odometer only shows 50,000 miles. *tr

Driving home from school (12 minute drive) at night and the air coming from the vents smelled funny, like coolant. I turned off the fans but still smelled funny. I turned the fans back on and white 'smoke' was coming out of the vents and it smelled heavily of coolant. My windshield began to fog up while i was on the highway. I rolled down my windows and sunroof and tried everything i could to get the window to defog, but it only got worse. I could barely see and felt like i was in a very dangerous situation so i pulled off on the nearest county road. The car began to overheat and i still couldn't see anything so i opened the door and drove to a safe spot and turned the car off. Found out later that there was coolant all over on the floorboards and that the heater core has failed. *jb

Dt*:the contact stated while driving on an interstate highway at 70mph, there was stinging/burning sensation to the contact's foot. When the foot was removed from the gas pedal, a steaming liquid was observed on the foot and on the floor around the pedals. The liquid was spewing from an area under dashboard above the gas, break and clutch pedals. Steam/vapor also appeared to be coming out of the defroster vents on the dashboard. The accessories were immediately turned off and the vehicle was moved over and off the road. The hot liquid continued to spew and burn the contact's foot as the brakes were being applied. The vapor of the liquid filled the vehicle interferring with the contact's vision.

On january 12, 2006, as i was driving my car at 65 mph on the highway an opaque white gas was quickly released from my heater vents and within seconds effectively turned the passenger compartment of my car into a gas chamber. The engine temperature increased after i was able to safely remove the vehicle of the highway. My car was sold with a permanent maintenance free pink vw antifreeze. The documentation that came with the car indicated that other than topping off the antifreeze periodically that no maintenance was necessary. It was determined that my heater core failed; the dealer says it failed because of lack of maintenance. If the system is maintenance free then how can a component fail because of lack of maintenance? I originally thought the vehicle had been vandalized, but the dealer differed. I was unable to find any warnings of the possibility of this occurring in service bulletins or any other vw literature. If the catastrophic failure of a heater core is possible doesn't the manufacture have a duty to warn the purchasers of its products? *nm

On sept 2, 2005 and sept. 6, 2005, under two circumstances involving quick acceleration with moderate load (two adults and one kid. About 50 lb load in trunk), the engine kept high revving after the gas paddle had been fully released, thus pulling forward hard unintentionally; it kept so doing for seconds, even after braking was applied for the first few seconds, and pumped. It recovered back to normal responsiveness after hard braking for at least five seconds in the first incident and about three second in the second. Another problem is the cruise control never worked since the purchase in 1996.

In late feb 2005 purchased a 1996 volkswagen jetta (which was a certified used vehicle) and in (appox) sept 2005 while driving down a packed freeway during rush hour, in the middle lane, the hood of my vehicle flew up. I was traveling about 60-65 mph and it visually looked like a piece of cardboard crumpling however the impact was so great that it cracked my windshield. I consider myself and the passengers extremely lucky that we were not injured and/or did not crash. My vehicle sustained tremendous body damage to the hood and can not shut properly and as i mention previously the windshield is cracked all the way across. I am uncertain whether or not similar vehicles to mine have had problems but i feel that this was a manufacturer defect / failure due to the fact of the safety latch malfunction. I am not 100% sure whether or not the hood was not shut completely because i did not physically check it before the incident but regardless that is why i thought safety latches were put into use on vehicle hoods to prevent such dangerous occurrences. *jb

Heater core ruptured, causing the coolant to spill over the driver's feet. This eventually caused the windshield to fog up, making the ability to see the road difficult.*ak while consumer was driving the vehicle, he hit a bump and hot coolant fell on his feet. The steam from the hot coolant fogged up the windows and escaped through the vents. The consumer pulled over to parking lot to avoid crashing because of the steam on the window. Volkswagen agreed to repair heating core.*sb