erWin

[RoknRob]

Thanks for the info, guys. I have started reading this thread as a consequence - lots of stuff I was unaware of:
http://www.vwwatercooled.com.au/foru...-41977-88.html

I am not so much worried about the cost, gavs, because, as you said, my car is still under warranty.

My concern is about a catastrophic failure while my kids are in the car with me... is the car still driveable, or do you come to a sudden stop? (In other words, can I get out of the way?) What can I expect?

[nomadx38]

If there is a catastrophic falure of the GSD it will not lock up or anything, you will though loose forward momentum (or reverse). As much as the DSG has its "working" faults it is quite good in safety. A major falure will see the clutches automatically open resulting in no drive. If it is not fatal the gearbox will go into limp mode (like what gavs has) and operate on what it still can "safely" (whether this be odd or even gears only).

If you are taking off and it fails well your pretty much dead in the water but in most drving situations it will go to neutral and indicate on the MFD a failure. As your car starts slowing down I would pull over as soon as possible.

I would only find it really dangerous if you were pulling out onto a really busy road and then died, quite a possible chance of a crash. Having said that from what I have seen and slightly experienced myself these problems only really occur when the gearbox is under a serious load (in gavs case going up a hill at 80kmh) or in my case slamming it into sports and flooring it to make it through the lights xD)

[gavs]

Yeah sorry, I should've elabortated. What I was referring to is basically what you've remarked on regarding the part number of the Mechatronics unit.

No worries mate, I apologize if I sounded like a bit*h but with my current situation, any time mechatronics is mentioned, I kind of lose my sh*t

[gavs]

As nomad has said (he was behind me when mine shat its pants) the gearbox won't just detonate, by all reports the actual gearset is pretty damn bullet proof, it's the mechatronic unit and clutches that are the weak links. In my case however, the K1 clutch didn't open and I lost drive. Now if that happened on the K2 clutch when trying to go into 2nd gear in an intersection, fair chance you would get cleaned up. This is why you never get alerted by VW about "service campaigns" because if they call it a "recall" it means that the vehicle is detrimental to the safety of people and they can't be seen to be admitting to that can they. All it will take is 1 crash because of the mechatronics failing and globally they will be forced into doing a recall. They also then have to lodge the recall with the government and make it publicly available, like toyota has just had to do with 2 million cars. That's actually not that many compared to VW. In china this year, they expect to sell 2.2 million vehicles with a DSG transmission. Only china! Last year they sold 1 million! Put that on a global scale and you can see why after the billions of dollars in development and marketing, that VAG will fight tooth and nail against a recall.

[RoknRob]

Thanks for clarifying, guys. I will make sure to be very careful when pulling out into fast roads, then.
Sheesh... this car is a worry... Sometimes wish I hadn't been seduced by the power, handling and fuel economy combination...

[gavs]

Ah, while she may bite, I wonderful machine she is though Seriously though, you should be fine, enjoy it as you always have my friend