Going down steep hills on the freeway (60mph), braking to keep near the speed limits causes a severe shudder throughout the vehicle. The outer edge of the front tires show severe signs of wear (potential toe in problem on the front tires).

a speed limiter will not act as a brake going down hill
it is a simple rpm limiter in conjunction with a road speed set parameter
So it will be part of the ECM management system

No
not if you drive it accordingly
steep hills are best negotiated in low fears with plenty of rpm applied
for example on a steep grade with a manual 1st or 2nd or possibly 3rd and the rpm around 2000 constant will cause it no harm
automatics will go to first automatically so keep the rpm at that mark
engine damage is experienced when the gear selected is too high and the engine is placed under extreme load so down shift to allow the engine to work easily
When going down hill select first and only use the brakes to maintain the 2000 rpm range and allow the engine compression to hold the car speed back
the rule of thumb for experienced drivers is this
you select the same gear to go down that it took to come up

Warped front rotors,replace or machine flat if they aren't worn below spec.Most parts shops can give you the specs for the rotors.

If you have had the Brake Pads / Disc Pads changed, and they have not useed ORIGINAL PADS , the shudder will / might happen. The other cause may be that the pads are very worn down, that will make ir shudder.

the p38 is a bit sluggish and slow on long steep hills, really not geared for performance but more as a piece of heavy equipment. strong horsepower wise very formidable powertrain but you're not going to have that get up and go that many drivers look for. couple quick suggestions you may want to check your plugs and wires a common weak spot in the ignition system, and i might suggest also running i can of seafoam through your engine. you deposit in your gas tank runs through with the half a tank of gas. i'm not a big advocate of fuel additives or octane boosters but in the case of seafoam it's definitely a worthwhile and proven product. don't forget also your sport mode button down next to your shift lever push that button down and it keeps your transmission from overdrive so you can accelerate into freeway traffic and climb hills without your transmission shifting

Hi,
Gear usage.
The Drive is for normal driving.
D2 is for hill/steep climbing drive.
D3 is for hill/steep going down drive.
If you have overdrive button, use it when you exceed 60mph.
That's all you have to do when you see roads that is going up nor down.

Thaks for asking FixYa!

going down steep hills will all but over ride a cruise control, since the motor is trying to keep the vehicle slowed to what your desired speed that you set , unfortunately this doesn't always work,, as your speed increases, the motor can't keep the speed reduced, when you apply the brakes, the system shuts off, cruise controls were meant to be used pretty much on long flat surfaces with Low inclines ,,

abs sensor blinking is usually cause by a bad wheel speed sensor or vehicle speed sensor. not too sure what going up hill is doing. sometimes that can move brake fluid around if its low and will detect low brake fluid, but you brake like would also come on with the abs sensor. check and fill brake fluid to fix that. to fix a sensor you need to bring the sensor readings up on a vw scan tool to see which one is cutting out. should take to vw shop for scan tool. they might charge you .5-1 hour diag time but its better then the hassel and expense of parts replacing. finally if they find nothing wrong with the speed sensors going up hill, then its probably the abs unit. check those in that order and you'll find it.

check brake fluid and for leaks.if everything is ok your master cylinder maybe going bad.i have a 2004 i have a bad master cylinder.

All vehicles will lose a certain amount of power when going up hill or towing depending on how steep the hill or how heavy the load. Do you shift down when needed.