Help, brakes failed on my 2008 Passat

I bought a new Passat in January last.

Towards the end of January, I could to stop at a junction and rear ended a car causing front damage to the passat and rear damage to the other one.

Subsequently (1st March ) I had an incident where the brakes failed to apply (brake pedal stuck and would not move just for a second or two).

I put both incidents down to my imagination

That's until yesterday when the brakes would not work - could not push the brake pedal and could not stop. Managed to avoid a collision and coasted to a stop.

After I restarted the car the brakes appeared to work ok. When I got to work I caklled VW assist who sent out an AA guy who reckons the brake servo is 'gone'.

Clearly it seems an intermittent servo problem has been the source of my 'frights'.

Right now even if it is fixed what recourse do I have?

I had to make an insurance claim to get both cars fixed after the first tip.

I've lost confidence in the car (only 1500 km on the clock).


What options do I have?

A a move to a different model would be costly but you can noyt buy peace of mind.

How should I approach VW and the dealer?

Thanks

Have an Independent Motor Assessor inspect the car and do a report and if something wrong with the car, have your solicitor deal with the matter. As only a new car you had better deal with it quickly.

Sounds very strange and even irresponsible.

Did you report the incidents of apparent brake failure to the dealer where you purchased the car?

If you made an insurance claim, did the insurance assessor not check your car mechanically after you reported the suspicion that brake failure was the cause of the accident?

Did you report that brake failure might have been the cause of the accident?

If you suspected that the brakes on the car were not functioning properly why did you continue to drive?

Personally I find the fact that you drove the car in this state, given that your suspicions were proven correct by an AA inspection, unfathomable and irresponsible, perhaps even grounds for having your insurance cancelled or your licence endorsed.

I'm afraid the first two incidents were momentary and I put them down to a lapse in concentration. I did not suspect failure at this stage. When the assessor looked at the car, brake failure was not something I'd thought of so that aspect was not looked at . My post incident comments are ''hindsight'

Friday's incident was also strange in that the car brakes worked and stopped perfectly after I restarted the car. It was only at this stage that I actually suspected a possible problem with the brakes and asked for a review.

The brake failure is not total and is Intermittent problem at best - who wants to believe that a brand new car could have such a potentially serious problem? I'd never have driven the car if I had any kind of notion that it would not stop.

Now that I ralise what the issue is, where do I go from here. The car is waiting to be towed to the garage to have VW look at it. The AA has categorised it as a 'servo failure'.

Park the car don't drive it again until you are sure.

God forbid the brakes fail when you need them most to avoid a person.

Talk to the dealer if they are flippant then talk to an independant inspector.

put dealer immediately on notice of the problem and arrange to have your own motor assessor examine the car alongside the dealers people. That way there will be agreement, or agreement on what to disagree on, should you need to go further.

Get no to VW Ireland - not just the dealer! How did you not realise that there was a problem with the breaks when you rear ended the first car. Surely if you had his the breaks and nothing had happened alarm bells should have rang!

Faulty brakes is a potentially lethal issue. I agree do not drive the car and have it professionally assessed.