This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
TDI Auxiliary heater (PTC) brown ground wire melting and causing a terrible plastic burning smell inside cabin. Wire likely will cause a fire. Many reports of this happening to other individuals on the Internet forum TDIforum.com
In 2019, VW issue a recall (37M2) Shift Lever Micro Switch for failing resulting in noncompliant Theft Protection and Rollaway Prevention. The recall was issued for 2015-2019 Golf and 2017-2019 Golf Sportwagen, HOWEVER, in Canada, the recall included 2015-2019 Golf Sportwagen. I have a 2015 Golf Sportwagen (USA) with a failing Shift Lever Micro Switch. There is no different between the Canadian and US Model for this part. I believe that VAG should include 2015 models in the recall.
I backed up my car and upon turning the wheel I heard some crackling from the steering wheel. The airbag and transmission error lights came on and I lost functionality of all the buttons on the steering wheel and the horn. Based on research, this is a clock spring that has been recalled for other model years.
My vehicle has been smoking inside cab and through vent system. After troubleshooting, discovered the brown ground wire and surrounding plastic of the PTC auxiliary heater has been burning. VW said the have no inventory for replacement parts and no date getting these in. I asked if there was a recall for this issue and they said there was not. Once the issue was located, I discovered a recall for the exact same issue on Audi vehicles. I am fortunate a fire did not ignite next to my leg while driving, however I did breath in a large amount of the smoke as the issue intermittently occured and the issue wasn't easily discovered. I am very frustrated VW would allow a fire hazzard to exist next to foot pedals. This should have been fixed long ago with a recall instead of forcing me and my family to breathe in smoke and risk a much larger fire. There were no warning lights and a dealer has not inspected the issue. However, brown cable housing is burnt/blackened.
The screen which is for the radio and back up camera has started to "flicker" This looks to be a common problem people are fixing it by having the head unit replaced but clearly it's a safety issue since the backup camera is hard to use. This is a dieselgate car so it wasn't purchased new until 2017 and it seems crazy for this to be happening when the car has only been on the road for 5 years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgRQp6E16Rc
- Pittsburgh, PA, USA
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-the failed part is available for inspection -fire hazard, shock hazard and toxic fume hazard - Audi has issued a recall for the same part on their vehicles https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2017/RCONL-17V622-5223.pdf -there were no warning lamps or other symptoms Description of the Issue: The ground terminal on the Auxiliary Heater also sometimes known as the Supplmentary PTC Heater (P/N 5Q0.963.235)began to corrode which caused it to get so hot that the insulation melted, the heater housing melted and live wires became loose in the passenger compartment. The burning plastic also created terrible fumes inside of the car. Here is a picture of a live wire that has melted the housing and come loose. https://forums.tdiclub.com/index.php"media/aux-heater-1-jpg.140387/ Here is the melted housing where the terminal should normally be. https://forums.tdiclub.com/index.php?media/aux-heater-2-jpg.140386/ This seems to be a common issue in these vehicles and is well known to the car enthusiast community. Here are some links to forums posts which document this issue https://forums.tdiclub.com/index.php?threads/burning-smell-from-heat.513304/ https://www.youtube.com/watch"v=dnNW-onPK9M&ab_channel=mr-fix https://www.seatcupra.net/forums/threads/ptc-heater-burning-smell.459372/
On starting the car the system monitoring safety features shows first a fault detected in the ABS, then the air bag, then tire pressure and sometimes indicates that the key battery should be replaced. It also turns off the idle control that raises the rpm when the brake peddle is released when stopped, and defeats the roll back when stopped on a hill. This started over six months ago and was intermittent, often turning off (no symbols lighted) and idle controls restored after a few minutes. About 5 weeks ago it became constant. In fact, the tire pressures are within the specifications, the key battery is new and measures 3V as expected. The status of the ABS and airbag cannot be checked by the consumer. This problem was reported to the Dealer, Flow Companies of Asheville, who found that the left rear speed sensor was faulty, but did not have the part. Replacement is now scheduled for October 3. This replacement hopefully will restore the monitoring system. My concern is that a monitoring system designed such that a fault in one system triggers false positive warnings in other safety related functions is dangerous. That it also affects the idle controls should not be acceptable. I have reviewed the TDI Forum and Golf Forums and found that this lighting up of multiple faults is not a rare occurrence. A faulty ABS speed sensor is sometimes the cause, other times is seems that moisture is penetrating a connector or cable. In any case a safety monitoring system providing false information should not be tolerated. I also drive a 2003 VW TDI Jetta, it also monitors the air bag, ABS and other systems, but a fault in one does not trigger a cascade of false positives.
After turning on the vehicle, I turned the steering wheel and heard a click, then the airbag malfunction warning light came on immediately. Horn and all steering wheel buttons have stopped working (radio control, cruise control etc). and airbag warning light remains on. This seems obviously to be the broken clock spring problem. Vehicle has about 105,000 miles on it. I am not sure if the steering area was ever serviced during a previous safety recall, but I have never had any service on the steering wheel or issues in that area.
I have a 2015 VW Golf sportwagen with about 47K miles. 9 months ago I had my clock spring go bad in my vehicle, which rendered my airbag to be disabled. The replacement was covered under the 3yr/36K mike warranty that comes with the car new (this is a tdi model, so the in-service date is May 2018 -car has approx. 32K miles on it at the time of repair). Today (March 2021), I had my clock spring go bad again, which disabled my airbag, again. VW tells me that my model specifically isn't covered under an existing extended warranty that has been issued to resolve this problem. This is a widespread problem with almost all models of VW from 2010-2018 and the NHTSA is well aware. My model of clock spring, although used in many of these other models that are coverage by this extended warranty, is not covered by VW. I'm not driving with no airbags until I can afford to replace out of pocket. This is a known issue and should cover all models which use that same clock spring that is the problem.
VW installed a radio spec for another model car in my vehicle the replacement part is a new part number this problem created a rolling screen on my display very distracting while driving I asked VW costumer care to replace the wrong part installed at there factory VW refused to cover the cost, this is a safety issue when your main display in the car is flashing and the screen is rolling and will lead to accidents I believe VW should have fixed this as a urgent safety matter thats it is distracting their drivers
This car was purchased as a certified vehicle after receiving the emissions fix. After less than 10,000 miles and only one year of ownership, all my dashboard warning lights came on (including airbag error) and the floor mats were soaked when I started my car after a severe rain storm. I was told the sunroof drains were plugged and caused the electrical issues. The drain being plugged with debris is considered an external factor and therefore the repairs are not covered by the warranty of this certified car. The owner's manual indicates that maintenance on the sun roof drains is recommended at 40,000 miles. As noted, the car was below the 40,000 mark but had sat idle for over a year between the time it was bought back from the original customer to when it was sold as a certified vehicle.
Steering column control module with clock spring failed, / miles on car 54302. All buttons on steering wheel stopped working. No horn, air bag light on as malfunction, reports state hazardous to drive... took it in for replacement--cost $668.52. Other VW have had this problem as a recall.. please add to list of VW having this problem and insist VW pay or recall to have them fix this dangerous problem. I pulled into parking spot when it all stopped. Good this I was back home and not still up in the Sierra
The push start button not working need press multiple time just to start the car also apply when I need turn the car off. I need press push and start multiple time just to turn off the car.
Problem noticed December 12th when one by one all the warning lights came on including the air bag, the stabilization system, the headlight system and others. Then when I stopped at a red light, the car would not shift out of 1st gear. I ended up having to have my vehicle towed back home. The next day a mechanic scanned it and said there was a problem in the emitions system which disabled the car by making it not able to drive. I then had it towed to the nearest VW dealer who told me that the whole problem, including the failure of the safety systems, was caused by a leak in the sunroof. Water ran down the A-piller and shorted some wiring. They gave me a print out where VW admits that this is the result of a production defect but they said that if the defect was not found before the warranty ran out that VW would not allow it to be fixed unless I paid them over $1,0000. As it is, I had to pay them $240 to take the trim off of the A-piller and dry the wiring out. This made the car run normally for the time being but now I am afraid that it will happen again.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Angier, NC, USA