Intermitent starting issue

Over the last week, I've on 3 occassions, found the engine unresponsive to starting. The car is a 2013 TDI SEL. I push the start button as per normal and get some lights on the dash, glow plug, engine, no error. Once was messaged to "put car in P" and on another occassion was told to depress the brake,BTW, Both times the shifter was in the appropriate position and the brake was depressed as one would normally do. Anyway, no engine cranking and after multiple fiddling with the brake, shifter, and several pushes on the start button the engine has started and peformed completely normal.
Called the dealer today, explained the situation, pretty much got a "we can look at it, but without an error msg code thrown, pretty hard to duplicate. So, I"ve decided to continue on and see if it ultimately breaks down or heals itself.
Anyone experienced a similar situation?
TIA

Two things come to mind. The safety start switch on the transmission could be loose or out of position. Second would be the break switch could be intermittent.

Clueless One said:

Two things come to mind. The safety start switch on the transmission could be loose or out of position. Second would be the break switch could be intermittent.

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Thanks for the common sense response. Yes, both of those suggestions seem simple and possible. Based on your input, I think I'll be proactive and stop by the dealership and suggest they might want to check the car out and pay specail attention to those two switches.

Another member mentioned a similar situation in his SEL, although I don't remember how long ago that thread was posted or who posted it.

Was the brake pedal rock hard? if you lose vacuum, you won't be able to depress the brake pedal enough to activate the switch.

740GLE said:

Was the brake pedal rock hard? if you lose vacuum, you won't be able to depress the brake pedal enough to activate the switch.

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The brake pedal seemed as usual. Usual is slightly mushy with a strong move to the firewall from continued foot pressure as the car starts then a building of pressure after the car has run a couple of seconds.

I've determined the next time the issue is experienced to step out side the vehicle, lock it and then try the remote start and see if it is an issue specifically from the brake pedal.

I've called VW of NA and asked if they had any info on this and there was none, and for that matter, there were no mention of any issues with this car, so they certainly haven't done anything re turbo yet.

Another thing that sort of bothered me was I called a couple of dealers, neither of which I had bought the car from, and both explained they don't
provide loaners to cars being worked on that weren't bought from them without first having a 30 month repair history. I actually asked VWNA about this lack of loaner issue and they confirmed that VW doesn't have a codified loaner policy other than it is an individual dealer decision. I thought that was poor. But, even so, I disliked my original dealer to such a level, that I'll go through the extra effort of bringing two cars in when I take the car for service. VWNA did say that if the car is left at a dealer for over 24 hours, I could rent a car and submit the claim to them.

Mine too

This thread looks old but I didn't see a final report of a fix or lack thereof. The start button on my 2014 SE with <50K miles has become "unreliable". The FOB works for everything else so I'm not looking at it for the answer. I get no messages about the selector position or brake pedal. The first push on the start/stop button is sometimes completely without effect. Eventually I get a response, but the problem is becoming more frequent. Then at times it won't turn the engine off without the same effort and anxiety. I'm starting to feel a little vulnerable. Anybody know more about this? Seems like maybe a mechanical/electrical contact failure in the switch or possibly the other unsecured wire connection suggestions.

I’ve seen a couple start/stop buttons failures on jetta wagons that sound like what you are describing, that’s where I would start.