Volkswagen Repair: 2002 New VW Beetle, rectifier circuit, new beetles

Question
The battery light came a few days ago. I thought it meant I needed a new battery, so I installed a new one. When this didn't solve the problem, I did some research and realized it may not be this simple. Took it into the local dealer and after the tech diagnosed the situation, they informed me the alternator was bad and I needed a new one at $662.00 P&L. Why would an alternator go out with less than 20K miles? I thought we purchased a quality German engineered vehicle? My 1997 Honda Civic (over 100K miles), knock on wood, has never had problems.  

Answer
Sorry to hear about your problem Randy.  However, I suppose a part gets produced that just doesn't have everything it needs to survive.  Did your dealer say what portion of the alternator went bad?  I presume it was the "regulator."  This part has the rectifier circuit, and the regulator circuit all on one "heat sink."  The other factor here may just be the number of electrical consumers.  New Beetles have a bunch.  If the cat isn't driven very often, or very far, the alternator has to run harder to charge the battery back up to full, when the car has been sitting, and the alarm used power, and the starter used a lot of power to get the car going again, and now you are sitting in traffic, with the air conditioner, and fan on,...etc.  If the battery is not at 100% charge, or very close to it, every trip, the battery, and the charging system have to work extra hard to get the charge back up.  If the trips a re short, and not too often then the charging system is being asked to work overtime each time the car is used.  Alternate cars,  keep them both at the same state of readiness.  Thanks Randy, hope this helps.