Front upper control arms and outer tie rods had to be replaced for the second time. First time at 55,552 miles and second time at 75,959 miles. That's only 20,407 miles difference for the $1200 repair to be done again. Absurd. Called the VW customer care and they refuse to reimburse in any way stating the 2 year warranty expired. This defect would never fall within the warranty period so they have no excuse. I already absorbed the cost for the 1st repair so in all fairness they should cover the 2nd time. This is a very common problem with VW's. I'm not going to pay $1200 every 20,000 to have my car repaired. I will go legal and forward this complaint to consumer reports, the BBB, and the attorney general.

- Oakland Gardens, NY, USA

Car clunked and rattled over small bumps, and felt floaty and wandering at highway speeds. Dealer reported that upper front control arms were bad. Said this is a very common problem with vws and Audi's.

- Wauwatosa, WI, USA

Normal use of '99 VW Passat with an odometer reading of 99,650 lead to the failure of ront contorl arms and tie rod ends. Replacement control arm set with tie rods retails for $1,700. Purchased a set for $495 and an additional $198.75 in labor.

- Harrisburg, PA, USA

Recall for lower control arms only even though in most cases the upper control arm needs replacements. Heck the forum forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1745481.

- Skokie, IL, USA

Upper control arm problem---when turning steering wheel left or right around a curve would hear a rattling noise. My mechanic said both upper control arms needed to be replaced. Car has 53000 miles on it. Repair cost me $1000. I have the bill specifying the parts that were replaced along with part numbers.

- Oakland Gardens, NY, USA

Front upper control arm disintegrated. As a result the wheels become loose.

- Northville, MI, USA

The control arms in the 1999, 2000, and 2001 Volkswagen Passats are defective. According to the dealership if these are not repaired one can lose steering control. The upper control arms in my 1999 Passat had to be replaced in November 2003 and now the lower control arms need to be replaced. The dealership indicates that this problem is common in 1999, 2000, and 2001 Passats, and I have spoken with other owners who are having the same problem. This safety hazard warrants a recall on these vehicles.

- Madison, WI, USA

As a result of a persistent rattling in the front right end of my 4 cyl. 1999 VW Passat, I took my car in for investigation. I have been advised by two independent repair shops that both upper control arms on both sides of the car as well as the tie rod ends must be replaced to the tune of $1200. If they are not replaced, I have been advised that one could break and I would have no steering. Obviously at a high rate of speed this could be dangerous or deadly. I have spoken with VW and even though they acknowledge issuing a tsb on this defect, they refuse to cover its repair. This is a safety issue that must be addressed sooner rather than later. Thank you for any help you can provide in this area.

- Raleigh, NC, USA

Both control arms failed on 1999 Passat glx @ 60000 miles on left and right side of the car. Repair covered by VW extended warranty to the tune of $689 per side of the vehicle, but these control arms should not be failing! steering, control, and tire wear suffer serious impairment as a result of these failures.

- Allentown, PA, USA

Control arm's of '1998-'2000 Passats are failure prone much earlier then the norm for passaneger automobiles. (a fact they recognized by a redesign of the control arms on '2001 and up Passat's. I purchased my car in 7/99. I drive 70 miles a day, mostly freeway, which as all know is actually very easy on an automobile. Yet with-in 2 years (40K) my front suspension was showing signs of premature wear. I get many "creaks" and "clunks" that are easy to hear at low speeds. After researching in popular internet forums for the car, (www.clubb5.com, www.vwvortex.com) I found out this failure is very common for this automobile. Vmoa (Volkswagen of America) has not issued a recall yet (even though they have received thousands of complaints) as of this late date. (6/04) the response from vwoa and your dealer network has been inconsistent, to say the least. Some dealers will not even look at the car, some will look at it and say nothing is wrong, and some will say that it is the control arms, but will not help out the owner when the time comes to contact the customer care center at vwoa. Vwoa is not much more help, promising to get on the problem and telling you they will callback, only they donT. or if they do, it is, sorry we cannot help you.. so what happens is that many of the owners that are out of warranty, must pay for a costly repair out of pocket. A repair that should have never happened. (I have never had control arm bushing failure in my previous 13 automobiles!) repair costs run over $700 for parts, and the same amount in labor. I am purchasing my car from the bank soon. Overall it is a great car. I must replace the control arms very soon. I dont look forward to that and the high cost it will run me. I wish for vmoa to treat its customers like a modern customer focused company. Bad designs happen. They owe it to their customers to make it right. Thank you. John E. tami.

- Mission Viejo, CA, USA

Front control arms.

- Wharton, NJ, USA

Upper and lower front suspension control arm bushing failure. (left and right).

- Holmdel, NJ, USA

Twice, with less than 50,000 miles on my 1999 Passat, both upper control arms have failed. I have spoken to numerous Audi A4 and VW Passat owners who have experienced the same failures. The cost to repair the control arms is in excess of $1200 and VW has done nothing to remedy this problem. The dealerships have been absolutely pitiful to deal with and have no reasonable explanations as to why these parts are failing. Please do something about this. In a car that costs over $25,000 this is unacceptable.

- Washington, DC, USA