2002 Volkswagen Jetta GLS wagon from North America - Comments

I just got my car back from the VW dealership and the claim to have found the problem and fixed it! The explanation for the standing water on the back passenger floor was a leak in the passenger mirror housing. Here's hoping they are correct and my car remains dry.

I can't believe what I am reading either... All of us with the same problem, but in different countries.

We have a Golf 1999 and live in northern Germany where it also rains a lot. There is a huge "permanent" puddle of water on the driver's side (back seat area) and in the emergency wheel's enclosure as well. We definitely hear some water swooshing around when we drive, and live in a mildew jungle. Is there anybody else who also experiences random EPS light switching on? Could that be related to the humidity?

We drove the car to the dealer to check on the water infiltration problem. The good news is that the drains of the sunroof are not clogged. The bad news is that we don't know why water accumulates in the car.

German Volkswagen dealers are just are "miffed" as their American counterparts. If anyone hears of a good class action in Germany let me know! vonseeckt <at> hotmail.com.

I agree with the above.

I own a 2003 Jetta wagon and have had all the water problems described above. The padding under my carpet is now mildewed and the car gives off a toxic stench when I get in it. I was told by the dealer that I need to maintain the drains, keeping them clean of all debris, and indicated the fault was mine. I was not informed of any such maintenance when I bought the car and the dealer obviously did not do any when I had it in for regular check-ups. I've checked the manual and there is nothing in it that addresses this issue. The dealer said they would correct the problem for a cost of $1,000. This is clearly a design flaw on the part of VW!! They should take responsibility for it!! I am writing directly to the CEO of VW, telling him of my problems and referring him/her to this site. We should not be discussing how to solve this problem ourselves. We should find a good class action lawyer. I'm going to start looking.

German Golf update:

Turns out that the rubber/plastic part that separates the back wheel from the actual car (driver's side) was cracked and that water was coming in from there when we drove.

The part in question was cheap, but not the labor and cleaning/drying fees! 1000 Euros later, our car is still dry after a week. Lets hope its stays that way.

So the lesson here is that these cars can have leaks from everywhere...

My 98 Jetta has been leaking on my pass floor board for a few months now also. Only when the A/C is on and I take a turn. The A/C also almost cuts out at this point.

2001 jetta with a sunroof leak to passenger front. I put a plastic straw in the nipple to hold it open and flushed water down. Even with the nipple completely open, water still leaks onto the passenger front floorboard.

Same problem here!

My 2003 Jetta has been leaking from around the hood lever for about 9 mo. The water gushes in every time it rains. It began to smell musty, but I hadn't realized how bad it had gotten. Yes, I had a wet shoe when it rained, but I thought I had been drying it out well enough. Now, my boyfriend refuses to get into my car. He says he can't stand the smell (I guess I had grown used to it.)

We cleared every drain and again today it is leaking.

I love my Jetta and I don't want to have to sell it.

This all started before my warranty was up, but now I am 600 miles over the warranty. ☹

2004 VW Golf GLS TDI- Leaks water in the passenger side back seat. I have had the drain blown out, however, the problem comes back. Other problems I have had are, diesel lines freezing even when treated for cold weather, antifreeze line breaking (before recall), air bag light going off, recall on heated seats, recall on brake lights, headlights burning out quickly.

I too have an occasionally damp 2002 Jetta. I have done all my service and the car has never been in an accident. The first time I found a puddle on the floor of my passenger side was due to a cracked seal around my windshield wiper. It was under warranty so no charge to me. The second time, same puddle on passenger side, was due to a clog in the sunroof drain. Still under warranty so no charge. The third and most recent time is supposedly caused by a clog in my air conditioning drain. I have never owned a car that leaked. I guess it's telling that, at least at my VW dealer, they have a "Water Specialist" on staff. It's quite annoying as each time I've realized it's leaked it's usually raining out and I have just put my bag on the floor into a puddle. I want to like my car, but after faulty ignition coils, recalls and now puddles my patience is at the end.

We bought our daughter a 2002 VW Beetle with turbo. Constant flooding on drivers side and some on passenger side. No answers from dealership. Any help, contact Tim Roberts at

chiefbus@hotmail.com 18151 SW. Farms Rd. Indiantown, FL

34956.

Oh wow... i have an 02 Jetta and the water pump went out today... so looking up info on that, I find this...Now, I KNOW why my car has a hint of mildew smell... it is garage kept and I barely use the sun roof... my car only has 46K on it and I have taken it in for I think the 10K and 30K service, that said... if my car smells like mildew, they all must leak.. Monday I may ask the VW dealer to take me next door to the Honda and Toyota dealers while they fix the water pump... I owned a 93 saturn that NEVER had problems... it wasnt as cute, but it sure cost me less!

I'm in the same situation. My 2003 Jetta leaks through the hood release in the driver's side floor board. Terrible mildew smell and no answers from the dealership. It's terrible.

I have a VW 2002 TDI Jetta and I have this problem. After a heavy rain I find water in the drivers side front and rear foot well. I would be interested in any solution. I heard that there is a class action suit.

Please email me if you know any solutions. mariobeaubonhomme@hotmail.com

It started to rain a lot this weekend and on Friday night my husband and I were going to go to the bookstore, but to horribly find out that I have a pond in the passenger floor of my 02 jetta 1.8T! I noticed that I had a wet carpet in the past, but the floor mat was covering it. Then when I lifted the mat, it was soaked and smelled! I took my car in this morning and I have yet to hear from the dealership to tell me if they will cover it. As I read the other issues that astound me, why in the world would I want to buy a car and later find out that I have to take care of drains?!! I never heard of this on any other make.