2000 VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE — Complaint #627939
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SERVICE BRAKES, AIR:DISC filed June 21, 2007
NHTSA complaint #627939 (ODI reference 10193906) concerns a 2000 VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE and was filed on June 21, 2007. The owner reports the failure occurred on April 24, 2007. The report was geocoded to Massachusetts based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as service brakes, air:disc, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: yes, fire: no, injuries: 1, fatalities: 0. A complaint that flags a crash, fire, or fatality is escalated on NHTSA's internal review queue and factors more heavily into any Preliminary Evaluation decision on this make and model. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE cohort independently describe similar service brakes, air:disc failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2000 VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
WHILE DRIVING ON A HIGHWAY AT 65 MILES PER HOUR, I ATTEMPTED TO TURN THE CRUISE CONTROL OFF. IT DID NOT GO OFF. THEN I APPLIED THE BRAKES AND THE BRAKE PEDAL WENT ALL THE WAY TO THE FLOOR WITH NO TENSION. THERE WAS NO BRAKING ACTION AT ALL. I DROVE ALONG SOME GRASSY AREAS ON THE SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY TO SLOW THE CAR, TURNED OFF THE IGNITION BECAUSE THE CAR WAS NO DECELERATING, AND HIT A TREE AT ABOUT 50 MPH. THE AIRBAGS DID NOT GO OFF. THE CAR WAS TOTALLED. THE CAR WAS SOLD TO A JUNK YARD BECAUSE THE REPAIR COSTS WERE TOO HIGH AND BECAUSE THE REPAIR FACILITY SAID THEY COULD NOT DETERMINE WHY THE CRUISE CONTROL AND BRAKES FAILED.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 627939 |
| ODI Number | 10193906 |
| Date Filed | June 21, 2007 |
| Failure Date | April 24, 2007 |
| VIN | 3VWCF21C7YM |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.