I just bought the car and understood that the previous owner bought and had a shop replace many components (and a tranny). When I purchased the car (test drove) I didn't encounter any issues or lights. About 2 weeks later I was driving +70mph and the car revved up to about 5000 RPM's. After some research I found that this was a design by the car to do this when it encountered an unsafe mode ( not sure what was unsafe). The "unsafe mode" feature kicks into 3rd, I think if driving in 3rd, 4th or Drive. If you are in 1st or 2nd it defaults to one of those two gears. I've personally found that I can pull over (shut down) - computer reset?? and take off again. That's some crazy **** that makes sense . Now I just want it fixed. There is a component under the drivers seat - think its the CPU or ECU or whatever. Its a black box, two screws and a wire connection. It may be bad or it may be good and just not synched with the transmission. Since my tranny was replaced, I'm assuming the backyard hillbillies that changed it missed that step to sync the computer that drives the tranny. It should be as easy as 1 hour of hooking up to mechanics (dealer), lubing up for the ***-reaming of your life.

I like my Jetta but damn these things are so female. If you've had this problem resolved in a previous experience then I'm all ears. Oh to get more info on the crap I mentioned above that relates to many of the other tranny issues on this site - just google "transmission safe mode" & enjoy.