2011 Volkswagen Jetta Recalled For Faulty Wiring

The public needs to be made aware that the voluntary safety recall of the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta is more serious than the company is announcing. As the proud owner of a new 2011 VW Jetta I was impacted by the wiring flaw and was lucky to avoid a fatal accident. While driving to work during rush hour on a rainy morning I blew my horn at a motorist on a four lane highway going through the District of Columbia in Washington. The horn did not sound, but I immediately lost all electrical power causing other drivers to run off the road to avoid a collision with my stalled car. The car was towed to the local VW service garage where a technician replaced a fuse and was not able to duplicate the problem. That same evening the car electrical system died when using the remote to lock the doors. Again, the same fuse was replaced and was not able to duplicate the problem. In being an electrical design engineer I decided to troubleshoot the problem so that I would not be left stranded again in the middle of traffic. Here is what I found the problem to be. Fuse 22 (on fuse panel C) SC22- (10 Amp) terminal 30a is used to protect the Ignition/Starter Switch D, Converter Box J935, Alarm Horn H12, Interior Monitoring Sensor G273-, Alarm Horn Relay J641-, and Dual Horn Relay J4. Whenever the horn gets slightly wet, using the horn will draw more current than the circuit 10 amp fuse can handle, causing the fuse to blow. I was able to duplicate the problem repeatedly by spraying water on the horn and then using the horn or locking the doors. (the horn activates to let you know the doors are locked). In simple terms, the car electrical system does not work when that circuit is dead. The wiring flaw is that the horn control circuit is on the same circuit as other functions needed to keep the car running. There is a significant risk that using the horn in wet weather while driving will disable the cars electrical system causing it to stall immediately without warning. After defining the problem to the VW service dealer, they said there was no fix available. Since VW could not fix the problem, here is what I did to correct the safety issue. I replaced the factory horn with an aftermarket horn and weather proofed the connection terminals. I also isolated the horn circuit to a dedicated fuse by using one of the open positions in the fuse box and installing a fuse terminal tap. I then used the original horn power wire as a signal wire to activate a separate horn power relay, thus eliminating the risk of amperage draw to the original F22 circuit. VW said I voided my car warrantee, but I would much prefer to void the warrantee than die on the highway.