2002 Volkswagen Jetta GLS wagon from North America - Comments

Me Too!! 2001 Passat, rear drives side. I'm off to explore my drains after reading all the other comments. I'm more than a little worried as my step-brother ended up having to trade his Jetta in because the water problem could not be fixed by anyone anywhere.

2003 leaky Jetta. Shop guy accused me of parking under trees!! How dare I? It turned out to be clogged drains AND a misaligned sunroof. My car now stinks like wet cat. There are only three weeks left on my warranty. Would love any info on how to hold VW responsible.

Yes, 2003 Jetta and the same problem with water in the cabin, in my case in the passanger side front and back. Bought the car two months ago. I am bringing it to the dealer tomorrow morning although rather skeptically after all these posts.

I have owned toyotas for the past 20 years with flawless performance and now made this aparently bad decision with the Jetta.

I will post a follow up.

Broken record... last night our Jetta was flooded by a heavy rain. Based on the number of posts with the same issue, I cannot believe that VW has not recalled these vehicles. I hope that somebody from VW is reading these notes and realizing how many customers they are going to lose. Spread the word, VW cars have issues that will not be addressed by the manufacturer.

02 glx Jetta Wagon, passenger side floor soaked, swamped, not very happy. me.joyd@yahoo.com.

I have a 2004 VW Golf. For the past two weeks I have noticed that the driver side floor and especially the floor behind the driver's seat is wet. It was below zero last week and I had to scrape the INSIDE of my windows before I could drive because of the condensation from these wet carpets. Last night we had heavy rains and today I found a pool of water on the floor behind the driver's seat. Let me know if anyone finds out about a class action suit. Thanks,

kaivalyapada@gmail.com.

Add my 2002 1.8T Jetta Wagon to the leak list. I also DO NOT have a sunroof. I first noticed the problem last winter, after I found a puddle of water in the back seat floorboard on the driver's side. I took the car in to the dealer, and they couldn't find the problem. While examining the car myself, I noticed that the molding around the driver's side front door (attached to the car, not the door) was beginning to fall apart, so I had them replace it - it took them a week to order the part, and they installed it after drying out my carpet. I think I spent like $700 on that, if I remember right.

To top it all off, my electrical system went out like a week later - I think they damaged it trying to replicate the leak problem. They did fix that on their dime.

Well, it rained a whole bunch this last week, and the leak is back. I can't for the life of me figure out where it is coming from. I've had the problem of condensation forming inside of the car for ages, so I don't think this is a new thing. I'm going to try giving the dealership a piece of my mind, after paying a pretty penny to "fix" the problem, here it is again.

It's not the sunroof people. Or, at least, it's not ALWAYS the sun roof. I don't have one.

Reading all these posts, I just cannot believe it. So depressing, and I know my dealership is going to try and get me to replace all the door seals, at $158 each. But I doubt that's truly the problem. I have a 2003 Jetta Wagon TDI; it floods too, like all the rest of you. Most recently via the sunroof controls area, the lights above passenger seat sun flap, and down the hood latch. Just like everybody else. This is a design flaw, plain and simple.

I just purchased a 2003 Jetta GLS TDI and I too wish I had found this site before I bought the car. I didn't even think about investigating such a problem.

I've noticed condensation, inside frosting, etc in the car during the week that I have had it. I could call the dealer that I bought the car from, but from what I read in previous postings I doubt they will do anything. I'll look into clearing the sunroof and A/C drains tomorrow morning, as well as the pollen filter (assuming I can figure out where it's located). Very depressing. I was excited about purchasing the Jetta diesel, and now I have to tell my wife I just bought us a lemon.

My 2000 VW Jetta GLS is having the same water problem. Water is accumulating on drivers side front and back. I started seeing this 2 months back. Thought this was related to a slightly broken windshield so replaced the windshield. However water still accumulates in small quantity after rains.

Carpet is wet and because of Boston Winter there is no way this is going to dry. Now I have to deal with smell, condensation, ice, etc. Every morning I have to scrape ice inside as well as outside.

Too bad as the car runs great.

From all these comments it seems that there is no good solution.

I bought a 03 Jetta TDI. I now know why is was at a good price... At first I thought maybe I left the window down or something. Nope there is a horrific leak somewhere. The driver side rear floor gets soaked. The car has a stinky mildew/mold smell in it as well. I found one sun roof drain is plugged. I plan to unplug that. (I hope the tube is connected in the inside still). I will then inspect all over for leaks.

The real problem is how do I clean the carpet and get rid of the stink? I am not going to over pay the stealership to do such things.

I am an owner of a 2002 Passat and a 2002 Jetta. I have not had issues with the Jetta. It is garaged kept.

The Passat sits outside and I have had water accumulate in the front passenger side where you place your feet, and I believe also there is a leak in the back somewhere. I took it to the dealership after I received the recall letter. But the damage was done. My car stinks. I took it to a detailer who told me he could get the smell out, but they were unsuccessful.

M. Meyer, Lake Barrington IL

I am an owner of a 2002 Jetta. A few months back we had a massive downpour and I noticed that my floors had flooded entirely. I figured that maybe I had left the door cracked or the window. But here it is a few months later and I am once again having the same problem. Furthermore, I bought a car cover to place over the car when it rains, and my car still floods. How about that? Called the dealership today and they want me to pay for the repairs! This is amazing!

I am just in awe reading these posts! I have a VW Jetta 2002 2.0 and bought it used in August from a chevy dealer; it was a trade-in. Since then I have experienced the same incidences. One morning I noticed about 2 inches of water (after my feet were soaked) when I got in the car; sloshing around, quite irritating. I vaccumed it out of the carpet (mostly the puddle accumulated in the back seat driver's floor). I could not find the leak and did not know what to do (since I was at college and my dealer is over 2 hours away). So I kept driving it anyway, and once again I had a leak of about 2 inches one morning. This time I looked around and noticed that water was flowing/dripping down near my fuse box and hood release lever. I also noticed that my side air bag part of the frame was damp. I also have a sunroof and think this might be part of the problem? Clogged hose? Cracked pollen filter?

I had made an apointment next week to have my car serviced. Although I may skip this appointment and not even bother to have it looked at, due to the responses on here they might not be able to fix it. Also, I bought mine as a trade-in at a Chevy dealership, and I really feel they will be less specialized than a VW dealer, even though from the looks of things VW dealers aren't much help either. My floors are still damp if I push down hard enough on them, and I feel if I let it go I could have longterm damage to my floorboards/frame? Rusting? Not sure what I want to do because I don't think this is covered under my extended warranty. Also, my driver's side foot light and dome light do not turn on when I open my driver's door. However my passenger foot light works when the door is opened and the dome light works when all other doors are opened. Maybe an electrical malfunction due to the water?, even though they haven't worked since I drove it off the lot, I just didn't notice since it was daylight when I test drove it and took it off the lot... UGH! But I can deal with no light when I open my door, but NOT the water. Maybe the lights are a result of the water causing a malfunction? Since all is happening on the same side, as stated before?

I did, however, notice that this leakage has not happened in awhile and I've been in heavy rains. It does not happen when I'm driving in the rain. And at my apartment my parking spaces are all downhill, so I tried parking uphill and I haven't had the problem since (except the water from previously). I do not have the moldy smell (*SIGH*YET*), but this could be because it's winter months, and the previous driver could have had it garage kept; ugh not looking forward to humid hot summer weather in PA. Before college, I parked uphill at my house in my driveway, and never had the leak except the 2 times at my apt. when I parked downhill. Coincidence? This might mean something? IT really is a hazard with the inside fogging, frosting, and water-droplets. Even though it hasn't leaked for awhile (knock on wood), I can't kick the condensation or the water in/under the carpets. I keep papertowels/newspaper on my floors to help soak up some water. I have to keep a papertowel or dishtowel handy to wipe up the fog and water droplets that are on the back and front windows. Not to mention scraping ice in the morning from the inside and outside... HOPE YOU'RE NOT LATE for anything because you'll become even more late!!! And if you decide to just defrost the ice, it just turns to water running down the inside of your window... they should make wipers on the inside and outside!! haha... what a mess! Also, driving down the road and having to keep windows cracked to keep from steaming up inside is a pain. This is health hazard we shouldn't have to deal with!!! It makes you freeze and also during these months there's noway keeping doors or windows open will evaporate it all.

I can't believe all of us are having this problem! I don't trust anyone to look at it with the expenses I may incur! I'm thinking my best bet is to dry out the floors (my friend can do this) /dehumidifier and keep a car cover on it each time it rains, as well as keep parking uphill. It's a pain, but I'm not about to pay an arm and a leg for a problem that may not even be fixed! Keep posting with updates and any legal information!!

Glad (I guess) that we are all in this together. It's these little VW problems that just eat away at me. I want to love my car. It's so cute and runs great. But I guess you can't judge a book by it's cover; ironically in this case the opposite of what the saying should mean!!

Keep posting!!

Our 2003 Jetta same problem interior condensation, mold etc, we live in the northwest tons of rain. My husband took it to the dealership, now I know why they were so uninterested in this problem because they had seen it before again and again I am sure. I'll keep reading and keep moping out the car. We need a recall and soon!