I had a very similar issue on my 04 v8. It was a corroded wiring harness that runs from the cowl under the wipers, to the fuse box under the seat. It was a fairly common issue because road debris , leaves etc get caught in there.
I believe because yours is newer that problem should have been corrected, but I could be wrong.
Also a bad alternator could cause that or a faulty battery. Have you replaced the battery?

 

I have owned the car for 2 years and have not replaced battery or alternator but battery seems very stron.
The tow truck guy thinks it is a fuse related to the brake pedal or near the shifter as the brake lights are staying on.
it is weird that there is no fuse in the fuse box for brake lights.

 

First, you do not remove the seat to access the battery.

You undo two bolts in the floor at the front of the seat and the seat then hinges backwards.

Here's the how-to:

Changing the T1, T2 AND T3 battery, including both in the V10 - myTreg forums

 

Sounds like a grounded wiring harness due to water contamination. Worse case scenario, control unit suffered water contamination. If so, possibly due to clogged water drains. Have these cleaned while your car is at the shop.

 

When the console lights up like a christmas tree - its almost always battery related. I'd suspect you either have a bad battery (possible) or the wiring harness which everyone is mentioning has corroded...the latter is a very common issue if you live in an area where snow and salt are used.

The seat flip is a 5 min job at most...follow the DIY and do the basic check of the battery (terminal connections, etc). If your battery is original I'd replace it (they only last 3 to 5 years). If you still have the problem - harness is likely it.

 

thank you for the advice. can anyone tell me what the harness costs and how much labout is required to change it?

 

It's usually not a harness replacement, but replacing or repairing the wires that are affected. It's mostly labor. I'd say 3-5hrs. My dealer had split the labor with me, because mine was just out of CPO and they realized I hadn't put that much debris in the cowl/drains

 

There are a few posts on here that I remember which spoke about the harness replacement/repair. If you do a search you should be able to find them along with the details of the work. I'd link you to them but I just can't remember the titles...they are from a while ago.

 

the dealer (don valley)called this morning and said that it was a few wires under the seat were corroded and needed to be replaced. I asked how this could happen as I have winter mats and keep the car clean and it originally came from Florida. They say it came from snow from boots (don't see how this is possible with the winter mats) Seems like a design flaw. Anyways they quoted 650 including getting me a radio code that I didn't get from the VW dealer in Tampa I bought the car as CPO from two and half years ago from.

 

I asked how this could happen ...

From the water through the roof hatch perhaps? That is quite common Treg issue.

 

my roof does not leak. are you referring to a drain hose running from the sunroof down below the seat?

 

Yes. Corrosion is a long term process. Who know what was going there while previos ownership. May be he/she made good the skylight just prior to selling.

 

this seems like a manufacturing defect. I wonder if the wires can be better protected. I will investigate once I get the car back.

 

I think its manufactured correctly - its just not well engineered. I have no idea why they didn't run the wiring down the middle of the console or some other place that cannot get wet.

Also think the wiring harness should be cheap in light of the failures that seem to happen with it.

Just my 2 cents.

 

It happened to me. The dash board lite up, and I could not get it out of park. The dealer said it was the wire harness under the seat.

 

ok picked up the truck and it was 650+tax. Service advisor suggested speaking with VW Canada about this being a design flaw. I called and waiting to hear back from them. Have my fingers crossed. Will see what they say

 

.

 

good luck, let us know how it turns out!

 

the corroded wires were under the driver's (left side) seat. I will post results here.

 

so far VW has not gotten back to me and have provided terrible customer service at VW Canada. I will write the story here when I have more time.

 

Well I experienced all of the aforementioned symptoms, stuck in park, brake fault, .......
I then pulled up the carpet on the drivers side and discovered a significant amount of water and five factory splices in the harness that were green and heavily corroded. I cut out the corrosion resoldered the splices and all is well. I have dried out the carpet and cleared all drains.All systems are back to normal.

 

Well done and glad it's fixed!

 

I had all the same symptoms and more. In the end it was all related to what seems to be a very rare factory f*ckup on a seal on the drivers side firewall. See my post from a few weeks ago. ?