Brand new 2003 Jetta 1.8T (19,000 miles) - driving to work this morning, no problems whatsoever, when suddenly the console goes out - everything drops down to 0 as if the car was shut down. We pulled over immediately and a few seconds later a light smoke started coming from under the steering wheel. We got out of the car and called VW Roadside Assistance - while on the phone with them, the smoke got darker and worse. Then we saw flames coming out from the engine near the steering wheel. Within about 5 minutes, the entire car was on fire - flames going at least 6 feet above the roof.

We had just had the car serviced on 9/30 by the VW dealer - they replaced those recalled ignition coils, fixed (supposedly) an electric problem with the check-engine light which they said was a problem with a coolant part, and passed us for the NYS inspection.

They're paying for a rental car now but state they have to do an "investigation" to determine if this was VW's fault before they decide what to do. Anyone else have a final outcome on one of these investigations?