Passat 'stopped itelf' - any ideas?!

[samsec]

(Apologies to anyone who saw this post on the manintenance page - I figured that that was the wrong place for it!)

I recently bought a second hand 51-plate Passat 2.0 SE Automatic, 27k on the clock (from a careful family member). First 1000 miles, great - lovely car.

Then I had the weirdest accident, I was wondering if anyone else has had this or can shed any light.

I was running at about 50 past speed cameras on a notorious stretch of road, I had changed the gear to 3rd (or max 3rd) to keep speed down when the car literally just stopped, as if I had jammed on the brakes. I didn't brake, there were no skid marks (or tyre wear), the car just stopped itself (causing a 3-car pile-up).

I've since been told that to change down to 'brake' using the engine on this type of automatic is a 'no-no', but that doesn't explain to me why the car stopped, as you might imagine I have no confidence in the car now. Please note - this wasn't just a loss of power, it was a complete and sudden stop...

I managed to limp the car home, the gearbox and engine are fine, but I'm still none-the-wiser as to how the car stopped or what I possibly did to cause this.

Any ideas anyone? My insurance company says that they are not there to diagnose, only to fix, so I am facing a possibly hefty VW dealer bill to look into why and how. I wouldn't feel comfortable selling the car on without knowing the reason it stopped.

Any thoughts would be appreciated, I couldn't find anything similar posted elsewhere.

[new to vw]

bloody hell bud glad to here your ok .......were you in drive then changed down to third to slow car down?????

[guyg]

Were there any strange noises from any part of the car?

Did the engine speed change significantly?

Were there any odd thumps or bangs?

Does the car have ESP fitted?

Asking the dealer to find something like this is asking to be made significantly poorer with little chance of a result unless there's an obvious fault.

It's probably worth getting the system read for fault codes by someone with a VAGCOM or a good independant before going too far.

Guy

[samsec]

Cheers 'New to VW' and GuyG.

No sound, nothing weird, it just literally came to a total halt.. The only other thing is that I ended up in reverse (stalled), but both my passenger and I think that I knocked it in when propelled forward by the stop. Totally weird.. I checked to see if I'd been dense and somehow put it into reverse whilst doing 50, but I'm led to understand I'd have no gearbox left now (let alone driving it home...!) No ESP to my knowledge, yes - was in drive and moved down to 3rd (I know - not good, but you live and learn, and definitely shouldn't have stopped the car!)

Does anyone know a 'friendly face' in the Dorset area who has a 'VAGCOM'? (Thanks for that little nugget - I knew there must be some way of getting at the computer)

Only other thing was that the brake whines sometimes when in reverse, but previous owner had that checked at dealer with nothing identified... may be a red herring.

Thanks again folks!

[guyg]

I have to say I'm baffled. Does the box behave completely as it did before?

See http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=5319 for forum members with VAGCOM.

In the absence of amy mechanical faults or lasting symptoms, this is the only thing I can suggest other than scouring other VAG forums. There is a greater uptake of auto boxes in the US, so it might be worth checking some of the US based sites.

Cheers

Guy