I have had trouble with my 2006 Passat starting in the afternoons at work as the battery would be dead and it would have to be jumped off to start. After about a week, it would not crank at all. During this time, we heard an awful squealing sound coming from the alternator. So, we figured the bearings were going out. So we replaced the alternator. The car cranked up great. While backing out of the driveway, the steering column light comes on and the steering column locks up. So we cut the car off and we start googling for the problem. We find hundreds of complaints about this same type problem during this same year and it happening even to people driving down the road. This could kill somebody. Is that what its going to take before a recall is made official? Well, now I have two children in college, a husband who has lost his job due to sickness, and I am the only one working, and to beat all that, the car now has the key locked and it wont come out AND it wont crank at all now. Should I have been going down the road for it to lock up and Volkswagen decide 'well maybe it might hurt somebody'? So what do we do now? This is more than a "pain in the ass", its a pain on the wallet in the ass...but now there's not even gonna be a wallet because I can't get to work!!!! I don't know what to do or how to fix it.

This is THE WORST CAR EVER!! When I start the car it will give me a light saying that the steering column is locked or defective. This does not happen every time I turn on the car. Just enough to make sure that it really pisses me off. Of course it always happens when you need to be somewhere, you are running late, or it is 110 degrees outside. Every time that I have taken it to the mechanic they say there is nothing wrong with it. Most of the time I can turn the car off and then start it again and it will go away. But I will have to try to restart the car like 10 times before it actually turns on. The car looks nice and is comfortable.... but it is TERRIBLE!!!