Hi all,

I am a new user, although I've had my 2004 Touareg for almost two years. I bought it, certified pre-owned from a VM dealership. Back in November the alert on the dashboard display (the display that tells you if you are low on gas, have low air pressure, burnt-out headlight, etc) started telling me that I had a "defective wheel on board." Immediately, I figured it was low air-pressure. So I checked it out, and my pressure was fine. It would come and go, the alert would come on, then go away/totally clear out while I was in the car,and this happened several times. I took it to VW and they said it was fixed. Then it started again. The next time, it started telling me that I had a flat tire. Now, I know very little about cars, but I think my dog can identify a flat tire.......I had no flat tire. I took it back to VW, they said I had a nail in my tire. Great, problem solved......not so much. It started alerting me again that I had "defective tire on board" and flat tire. And just like the first time, it would give me an alert, then go away.....then come back on again......all during the same drive. This was during the cold months in NC, so I figured that the tire pressure was dropping due to the low temperatures. And since this was mainly happening in the morning, on the way to work, I figured that low temperatures was the culprit. Then it started doing it when it wasn't so cold outside. I take it back to VW, for the 3rd time, and they tell me that the alert system on the 2004 Touareg is very sensitive......so sensitive that it can give me a false alert.....they tell me there is nothing they can do. I figured since Spring is right around the corner, my problem would be solved. We are having relatively mild temperatures these days in NC, and the alert is still going off in the morning. I should also point out that I never had this problem last Winter......just this Winter. I asked the people in the service department if they can just disable the alert, they said they can't because of liability issues. I say, what good is a "safety alert" that lies to you? It's kind of like the boy who cried wolf.......I could actually have a damaged tire and not know about it.

Today, I had finally had enough. I took it back to VW and told them they need to fix something. Once again, they told me that the 2004 Touaregs are very sensitive. I find it rather hard to believe that everyone who owns a 2004 Touareg has to go deal with this same problem every day! Who knows, maybe that's the reason why mine was sold back to VW in the first place. Other than this, I love this car! But I'm almost to the point of selling it and never going anywhere near a VW ever again!! I know it might sound petty, but a car that costs this much should beep at me every two minutes when I'm in it. Driving a car as nice as a Touareg should be a relaxing experience.

My question, if it isn't obvious, has anyone here ever experienced the same problem, or heard of anyone experiencing the same problem? I'm really almost done with it, especially if I go there tomorrow and they tell me again that there is nothing that they can do. Please someone help me out.

Thanks,

Jason

 

You have either a bad antenna on one or more wheels or the TPS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) Module is defective. These are covered under VW TSB’s and will be fixed free of charge.