Volkswagen Passat Complaints

7,897 consumer complaints on file.

#11426230July 23, 2021
POWER TRAIN
The 2018 vw Passat se is only 3 years old and the transmission went out. The mileage was just a little over 98,000. The car has been kept up with as far as oil change, routine maintenance, and extras, such as tires and brakes. We have been given no reason to why the transmission would have went out like it did. But we are stuck making payments on it and the cost of repair from the dealership itself is $4,500
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11425683July 20, 2021
ENGINE
Intermittent stalling. Typically at stop, when vehicle has been running a short time. Vehicle restarts. Occurs frequently, every week, but not every trip. Started in spring 2021, recurring issue. Mechanic unable to replicate.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11425287July 17, 2021
STEERING
The power steering system fails when the engine/engine compartment gets hot. The problem has appeared after the car has been shut down (such as when refueling or a quick run into a store) and then restarted. When the key is pushed in to start the car, there is a loud grinding noise, a visible shimmy of the steering wheel, followed by the red steering wheel icon indicating there is a problem and 3 chimes. The steering wheel is locked in position with very limited turning ability and ability to control the direction of the car.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11425004July 15, 2021
AIR BAGS
The contact owns a 2014 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated that while starting the vehicle, the air bag warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and diagnosed that the air bag clock spring was damaged, and the clock spring needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The contact was relating the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 15V483000 (Air Bag). The failure mileage was 86,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11424540July 13, 2021
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
I have had to have my vehicle serviced over 5 times within the last three months. There is a recurring sensor temps, Air bad error, radio not working properly, and front assist sensor light error. Everything I have had to take my vehicle to a service dealer, my wheel bearing need to be changed, my tire sensor needs to be changed, and my steering wheel is shaking. This is an urgent matter that needs to be taken care of
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11423991July 8, 2021
ENGINE
I notice that the “turbo” cuts in and out when it wants to . That’s known as a. Turbo lag. As for my brakes , my rotors have grooves on them and when braking it shakes my steering wheel, scared that I’ll lose control of wheel so I have to pump my breaks to avoid costs of accident. And my air bag light is on , on the dash so my guess would be that the airbags don’t work .
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11423625July 6, 2021
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
The contact owned a 2010 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated that while driving slowly towards a stop sign, the vehicle unintendedly accelerated and drove forward causing another vehicle to crash into the driver’s side of the vehicle. There were no injuries reported. A police report was filed. Neither the local dealer nor the manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 83,000. The vehicle was destroyed.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11422304June 25, 2021
AIR BAGS
The driver's side airbag of my 2001 VW Passat spontaneously deployed while I drove on Hwy 494 in Woodbury MN. Sometime within 24 hours before the airbag deployed, the airbag fault light turned on in the car's dashboard display. Within 15 minutes before the incident, the car's automatic locking locks unlocked twice while I was driving the car. After the second time, I tried to lock the car doors by pressing the lock button on the driver's door console but the doors would not locked. At that time I noticed that the two interior lights in the back seat area were turned on. All the doors of the car were properly shut. When the airbags deployed I was driving on the smooth 1 year old concrete section of Hwy 494. I did not hit anything on the highway. After the deployment, I parked on the shoulder, shut off the engine and opened the passenger door to air out the car. After about 5 minutes, I got back in the car and drove home. The automatic locks worked again. The interior lights automatically turned off. The drive home was uneventful.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11422091June 24, 2021
LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
VW Lane Assist is on when the vehicle is turned on. It must be turned off by the driver which I forget to do. Driving on country two lanes I've encountered joggers, bikers in the designated bike lane, service vehicles on the right shoulder. When I give them some extra room to avoid them the Active Lane Assist steers the car towards the people I'm trying to avoid. If the road is pitched enough the Lane Assist steering is rather abrupt. There is no feature that allows Lane Assist to be disabled and manually re-enabled when needed. The best solution would be to allow lane assist only when the Active Cruise control is active.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11420426June 10, 2021
AIR BAGS
Clock spring broken in vehicle
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11420360June 9, 2021
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
The right headlight has not worked since I bought my car. I bought new headlights and it still wouldn’t work. So I seen a recall on the lights of the car I have.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11420208June 8, 2021
LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
On starting the vehicle for the first time of the day, console display indicated Lane Assist was disabled. It was necessary to access the menu system and re-enable Lane Assist. Lane Assist was enabled when the vehicle was parked the previous day. Lane Assist has many times somehow become disabled and cleared on the menu system while the car was parked overnight. The problem and others have been reported to Volkswagen several times. After lengthy service visits since 2019, Volkswagen have been unable to correct or explain the faults. Volkswagen insist no error codes have been recorded in the system. All thing considered, the ongoing absence of error codes may be yet another fault.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11419843June 6, 2021
LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
While driving at approximately 10 MPH, the message "Lane Assist Currently Not Available" was displayed and Lane Assist deselected in the system menu. Later, while parked, I re-enabled Lane Assist using the menu system. This problem, along with others, has been ongoing since 2019. Since 2019, Volkswagen have been unable or unwilling to correct any of the problems experienced with the vehicle.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11419594June 4, 2021
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, ENGINE
After several attempts to identify the cause of my vehicle's excessive oil consumption, white smoke out of tail pipe and illumination of my low oil and EPC lights, the VW dealership has diagnosed my vehicle with a failed air oil seperator/PCV stuck in the open position. During the times the EPC light illuminated, I had a loss of engine power which potentially could have led to engine shut off and caused an accident. I often drive on the highway with construction with my children so sudden engine shut off is a safety risk. On 12/18/20, I took my vehicle to the VW dealership for excessive oil consumption, low oil and EPC lights and white smoke out of tailpipe. The technician diagnosed and repaired a blown upper timing gasket. The problems persisted and I dropped off the vehicle at the dealership on 01/19/21. Dealership advised computer update was needed and was performed. Problems persisted and vehicle was dropped off on 01/30/21 and 03/15/21 for oil consumption tests and advised results were in 'acceptable' range for VW. After researching work history on my vehicle, I remembered I took it in while under warranty (under 36k miles) for fuel smell in cabin when using the heater. VW technicians checked fuel lines, injectors and fuel tank but found nothing wrong. After researching this topic on various VW blogs, I found the fuel smell in cabin was caused by failed PCV system in numerous cases. I believe my air oil seperator/PCV was faulty and began to fail while my vehicle was still under warranty. Further internet research revealed websites and blogs with numerous mentions of failed VW/ Audi PCV systems. I believe my vehicle may have been affected by a faulty part installed and has been overlooked by VW.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11418638May 26, 2021
AIR BAGS
I turned on my car and turned the wheel to leave my parking as I normally do every morning. I heard a crack and the steering wheel was not moving normally. Then there was an air bag error message as well as the horn and wheel button controls stopped working. I looked it up online and saw that there was a previous recall on this issue with this type of model. Though no current recalls came up. It has been an issue with VW Passats and it’s very unsafe. Never have had any issues like this happen in other cars. I had barely turned the wheel when this happened.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11418700May 26, 2021
ENGINE
While driving on a highway, I heard a mild noise under the hood and things went chaotic, the coolant temperature went high above nominal, the speedometer went crazy, the brakes weren't working, the steering got locked (Not able to move freely) and I literally felt dreadful, I was lucky enough that there were no vehicles front or back of me, otherwise it would have been a fatal incident. I managed to use my hand brakes to slow down and slightly move the vehicle to the shoulder. Oil was leaking underneath the engine at its first look. The vehicle then had to be towed to the dealership. The dealership inspected and confirmed that they found a hole in the engine block and they came back to me and mentioned the whole engine block and also the turbo has to be replaced. The vehicle was right after a fully recommended service from the dealership. no warning or other symptoms appearing.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11418180May 22, 2021
LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
While stopped at an intersection with no moving traffic, the Park Assist enabled itself warning extreme proximity to something on the left side of the vehicle. As with other faults, the Park Assist faults have occurred numerous times since 2019. The Lane Assist system unexpectedly disabled itself while driving less than five MPH on a slightly inclined driveway.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11417838May 19, 2021
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, LANE DEPARTURE: LANE KEEP: STEERING ASSIST, BACK OVER PREVENTION: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERA
The emergency breaking incident first occurred on 8 December 2019 as I was entering the parking lot for my apartment complex. There were no obstacles. The second occurrence was reported to the NHTSA on 5 May 2021. The tracking number for the issue is 11415338. The vehicle has exhibited multiple faults with its electronics, including emergency breaking enabling for no apparent reason, lane assist randomly disabling itself (including driving and overnight while parked), parking sensors alerting extreme proximity when nothing it near the vehicle, Infotainment system (failed to move from VW display, locked up, failed to display rear camera with vehicle in reverse and other failures), the rear camera has failed to display and displayed a image "rolling" vertically, wing mirrors have failed to extend or extend after considerable delay, and other issues. All of these issues have been reported to Volkswagen and service has reported no problems. Additional information, photos, and video are available.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11417680May 18, 2021
AIR BAGS
I purchased my Passat in Pasadena California. I now reside in Nevada. The closest dealer to me is Lithia Volkswagen of Reno 1050 E Plumb Ln #110, Reno, NV 89502. This is an hours drive for me. I have called and explained to this deal that I need my airbag recall fixed. Each attempt, I am advised that they will have to check on the parts and get back to me. They never do. How can I take car of my dangerous recall? I also have questions as to the logistics. Do I make a day of this? Would I be required to leave the car for long etc.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11416704May 15, 2021
AIR BAGS
MY STEERING COLUMN STARTED MAKING A CLICKING NOISE WHEN I TURNED IT, AND THEN MY DRIVER-SIDE AIR BAG LIGHT CAME ON.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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