# brake assist failure due to faulty vacuum pump, mkv gti



## jbgti12 (Aug 6, 2009)

Hello,
I have a 2009 GTI, and while driving with some friends yesterday, my brake pedal became extremely stiff, causing the brakes to become almost completely ineffective. As we were on a spirited drive down a twisty road, the experience was quite nerve racking, as I had push the pedal as hard as I could (which did almost nothing) and use the hand brake to stop on the side of the road. While the brakes may have been warm, there was no fade, or any sort of warning before this happened. Letting the car cool did nothing, however after cruising for several miles (low gears to slow down) the assistance would return for one or two brake depressions, but became hard again. I took the car to Volkswagen today, and they later called me and said it would cost around $650 to fix, and that it was the vacuum pump that failed. An hour later they called and said it would be $950... Annoyed, I called the Volkswagen customer care center to see what could be done. Anyways, they have a case manager or someone going to check out the repairs to see how much money, if any, Volkswagen will contribute to the repair.
My questions are, have any of you ever experienced similar problems? 
As it is a major safety concern, I feel like I shouldn't have to pay for this (my car has 44k miles, so just out of warranty).
Any help would be greatly appreciated 

*Summary: Scary brake assist failure while on a spirited drive. Volkswagen says vacuum pump failure, costing ~$650-1000.. Has anyone had a similar problem? What should I do? Who should pay?*

note: posted in golfmkv as well


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## radlynx (Jan 4, 2007)

Use your muscle for now and press the pedal really hard. you can do it yourself too if you want to save on repair. i remember driving a car without the brake assist for a long time when i started or learning to drive a car.




jbgti12 said:


> Hello,
> I have a 2009 GTI, and while driving with some friends yesterday, my brake pedal became extremely stiff, causing the brakes to become almost completely ineffective. As we were on a spirited drive down a twisty road, the experience was quite nerve racking, as I had push the pedal as hard as I could (which did almost nothing) and use the hand brake to stop on the side of the road. While the brakes may have been warm, there was no fade, or any sort of warning before this happened. Letting the car cool did nothing, however after cruising for several miles (low gears to slow down) the assistance would return for one or two brake depressions, but became hard again. I took the car to Volkswagen today, and they later called me and said it would cost around $650 to fix, and that it was the vacuum pump that failed. An hour later they called and said it would be $950... Annoyed, I called the Volkswagen customer care center to see what could be done. Anyways, they have a case manager or someone going to check out the repairs to see how much money, if any, Volkswagen will contribute to the repair.
> My questions are, have any of you ever experienced similar problems?
> As it is a major safety concern, I feel like I shouldn't have to pay for this (my car has 44k miles, so just out of warranty).
> ...


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