The contact owns a 2005 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated that she could hear a chain noise while driving at any speed. After a year, the noise became louder. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the contact was informed that the balance chain would break soon. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000 and the current mileage was approximately 117,000. Updated 01/24/11 updated 04/14/11

- Mount Pleasant, MI, USA

Ltr from senator murkowski on behalf of constituent who has concerns re the safety of the 2005 VW Passat tdi station wagon. The consumer stated there is a design issue with the engine. The consumer stated VW used an unusual combination of a chain driven oil pump (normally gear drive) and associated with that a counter balancer to reduce vibration in the diesel engine. The oil chain is prone to failure, and the balancer shaft is not a tight enough fit. The consumer stated the repair is costly and there is no real fix for the issue.

- Anchorage, AK, USA

The vehicle was in for repairs at 42K miles, while under the warranty in 2004. There was an oil leak and the car was running rough. They stated they replaced a flange that was cracked, the oil pump/balance shaft sprocket, chain tensioner. When I got the car back it wasn't running right, very, very rough and loud (it's a diesel but used to be quiet). It turns out they did not balance the balance shaft with the engine, they ordered the part/tool to do this. Nearly 1K miles later, after they told me it was safe to drive, they called me to come in and have it balanced, which I did. At 65K miles, roughly 9-10 months after this initial repair, the chain snapped for the oil pump. The sprocket on the oil pump that they replaced along with the chain tensioner were destroyed. The sprocket had old and new wear, the chain tensioner ended up in pieces, and the chain should have been replaced the initial time but was not. The chain snapped. The original flange that was leaking was also leaking again. This catastrophe led to the crankshaft needing to be replaced as well as the turbo which was immediately starved for oil and burned up too. The engine was rebuilt (bottom end), turbo replaced, new crank, and currently it still cannot be driven due to electrical or mechanical problems associated with the repair and failure. VW of America stated the parts they replaced did not fail, and if they did they only have a 12mo/12K mile warranty on them. The warranty for the car was up at 50K miles. There are numerous complaints on the forums and message boards in regards to the balance shaft and components (chain, tensioner, shaft, hex shaft, sprocket) being faulty or failing. Many are having problems shortly after the warranty is up.

- Antioch, IL, USA