2003 beetle electrical problem

Has anyone had a problem with the 03 headlights (& fog lights) dimming and getting brighter? I've had the car about 6 months and the battery has been replaced and the headlights are still blinking. I had a problem with the dealership not listening to me and had to go to the general manager. He is supposed to be contacting VW Engineering because the service department can't find the problem. I read on Consumer Reports.com that there were some electrical problems with this year, but they were not specific about what kind of problems.

Has anyone had a problem with the 03 headlights (& fog lights) dimming and getting brighter? I've had the car about 6 months and the battery has been replaced and the headlights are still blinking. I had a problem with the dealership not listening to me and had to go to the general manager. He is supposed to be contacting VW Engineering because the service department can't find the problem. I read on Consumer Reports.com that there were some electrical problems with this year, but they were not specific about what kind of problems.


the reason the service dept can't find a problem is because there isn't one. i worked in a vw service dept for 6 years and had several cars with the same simptom. what we found was the charging system is a high output system due to the large amount of electricall components in the car and the voltage regulator decides when the battery gets the excess voltage from the alternator or when the car's electrical demand requires the voltage. what you are seeing is the voltage regulator switching from battery charge to power supply mode in the dimming of the lights. this is normal. to bad the vw tech's at your dealer don't read the vw tech bullitins or they would know this.

the reason the service dept can't find a problem is because there isn't one. i worked in a vw service dept for 6 years and had several cars with the same simptom. what we found was the charging system is a high output system due to the large amount of electricall components in the car and the voltage regulator decides when the battery gets the excess voltage from the alternator or when the car's electrical demand requires the voltage. what you are seeing is the voltage regulator switching from battery charge to power supply mode in the dimming of the lights. this is normal. to bad the vw tech's at your dealer don't read the vw tech bullitins or they would know this.


Thank you for your reply. I will pass this info along to the dealership. You're right they need to read their bulletins. They had my car for 2 days a couple of weeks ago and all they did was test the new battery that they put in a month before that. Needless to say, I'm not very pleased with the local VW service department.