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.
Any time it rains and the car goes through a deeper than surface level puddle/wet area where the nose of the car has to dip down (think by railroad tracks, high water retention areas with lack of drainage, etc) as soon as the car dips down into the water, the steering wheel will lock up and I am unable to turn. It's severely dangerous as there is no give at all to the wheel as it is solidly locked and if you happen to be taking a curve or changing lanes etc, you will not be able to turn the car. My husband and myself have narrowly escaped severe car accidents as this is random and there is nothing you can do except try to force the wheel to turn. When I say the wheel is locked, it's a good 15-20 seconds of desperation trying to turn the wheel before it finally unlocks and I am able to correct the direction of the car. Living in FL with high rainfall chances, including sporadic downpours that unfortunately leave situations like this to occur often, it is a severe safety risk for myself and for other drivers. I have been lucky so far that when this has occurred I have been able to eventually correct the steering, however there have been several severe near misses that are completely out of my control. Please help find a solution, as there doesn't seem to be a fix for this anywhere that I've looked. I do not want to spend money I don't have taking it from dealership to dealership for them to be just as stumped as we are. I have two young kids and not only do I not feel safe letting them in the car, I seriously dread any time it rains because of this issue. I'm not talking about driving through deep bodies of water, but normal rainy weather situations on everyday roads that are otherwise uneventful. Unfortunately I am in an area where water seems to gather quite a bit on the everyday roads I need for work and this situation is truly unavoidable. I put one date below as when it occurred, but it has happened several times in the last week alone due to heavy rains
Bought in July and had 38461 miles and only put 3000 miles since bought. Driving down the road and it started raining and had 2-?? of water in my drivers side floor board. Took to jack Morris auto glass and they looked at it and said the pan on the driver-??s side of the sunroof was cracked. He told me that driving it was risky as it could catch fire and cause electrical issues. Please advise.
I heard a loud crack while turning my steering wheel and now I have an "Airbag Error" message and the controls on my steering wheel do not work. Is this related to the Airbag recall" Is it the Steering Wheel Clock Spring"
Door lock actuator breaks without the operator realizing it, resulting in a threat to the safety of the operator and security of the vehicle. The only way to diagnose the issue is using VW code scanners, otherwise, there are no obvious traits to an unsuspecting owner that the door locks are inoperative. VW dealer near by estimates the repair at $400 and regularly keeps the part in stock due to this issue.
While driving the vehicle it will loose driving power, check engine light will come on as well as epc light. When taken to a mechanic it was found out that the whole throtke body needed to be replaced. I was also told that this was a dealer only part, when the mechanic shop called to order the part from the dealership they were told that the part was on a national back order and that it could be 6 months to a year before a part was avaliable. When I called the dealership a week later the part was still on back order, and they said that they had over 200 on a list waiting for this part, and to keep calling back to ask about the status. I have not been able to drive my vehicle since July 2020, and as of today 10/22/2020, accordinf to the dealership there is still no estimated timeframe that this part eill be available. I fell that if there is that many that if they do in fact have over 200 waiting for the part then there must be somthing defective with the current part that is on the vehicle.
- Tucson, AZ, USA
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Heater cor clogged. The vehicle has 78xxx miles. On the Volkswagen forms other people have the same issue also in other years. It is the same part used
My vehicle will not turn off once started. The steering wheel lock and the ignition become stuck and I can no longer turn my car off. Since my car can't turn off, it will be on for hours on end until the gas runs out or until I get someone to cut the battery to make the car stop running. I had to leave my car in a parking lot because I was affraid to take it anywhere and not be able to turn my car off for hours on end. I feel I am not able to use my vehicle. The vehicle has less than 100,000 miles and is not even 10 years old. I feel the vehicle is unsafe to use.
My car caught on fire while I was driving and almost killed me and my daughter. The fire department came and put it out but it is a total loss. I think it could well be the starter as many 2011 build VW Passats were affected.
Front driver side door will not open nor will it unlock. Lately, (December 2018), I cannot open the door in the morning. Sometimes cold dry mornings, other mornings mist that has frozen, other mornings just cold. I have to go through the passenger side door and work my way over to drivers seat. Takes up to 20 minutes for the door to open. I found it easier if I have defrost on high heat with vent pointed to door. I find this a dangerous situation as I drive to work knowing something could happen and I could not get out.
Takata recall I looked up vehicles VIN an noticed 6 recalls on it I had got the issue fixed and I noticed my sensor in my tire was blinking I took it back to the dealership guy working told me only a sensor I need to pay for which I have already looked up an seen that it was a recall on the tire sensor on the 24 of February I'm riding down patton St in greensboro nc I noticed my airbag light was blinking steering wheel started to shake rattled me I pulled over and airbags deployed I began to get in the car I'm not sure why the airbags came out I had to go to the hospital due to the airbags hittn me in the face I have reached out to the dealership spoke with supervisor ebbie also disrespectful I'm only wanting my car fixed because of an issue that was recalled on Volkswagen vehicles
Takata recall. 2017 had airbag recall completed, no issues prior to recall. After recall, horn sounds while driving and while vehicle is running, and can't be shut off. Dealership refuses to fix, identifies as new problem. Changed clock spring to fix horn issue for $500, horn now intermittently sounds while driving, steering wheel controls, and cruise controls no longer work.
My vehicle has been just fine up until Saturday morning,12/1/2018 at approximately 10:30. As I was making a right turn I heard clicking coming from my steering wheel. Mind you I would here this clicking hear and there but figured maybe my steering column was getting rusty not know it was more serious until now. After I parked my car I received and air bag error. My car was apart of the takata airbag inflator recall and I got that fixed at the dealer April 2017. When I called the VW dealer near my residence, the service advisor ask I bring my car in to diagnose however from the sounds of it, appears to be a spiral clock spring issue. Of course being a female I had concerns and ask several questions goong back to the airbag replacement to see if it all tied in together. The advisor advised since the recall was a year and half ago this is a different issue but again would diagnose the vehicle first. Here's my issue. As I reached more, I noticed a lot of complaints and investigations related to the clock spring failure. There were recalls but my vehicle was not included. That is a huge problem and very concerning and poor judgement on VW behalf. Now I'm driving with a possible faulty airbag that was not really fixed, my horn does not work, nor any controls on my steering wheel. In my opinion I should not have to come out of pocket for such repair due to the lack of VW. VW are putting people's lives at stake. I've has electrical issues now this. Not reliable vehicles at all. I hope someone can look into this matter and address it. Thank you for your time!
My car has 59900 miles, key gets stuck in ignition when turning off the engine, I can not turn off my car now. I searched online, this is a common issue to VW cars, many VW owners complain the key is stuck in ignition and can not turn off engine, they had to bring the car to dealer to replace ignition switch.
On 01/10/18 I took my vehicle in for some recalls. On 05/22/18, I heard noise coming from the steering column, the airbag warning light illuminated on the dashboard and all of the steering-mounted controls failed. This occurred while I was driving, and can hear the noises most when turning. Based on my research and talk with other VW drivers, it appears to be the clock spring (which had a recall on it, and was supposed to have been fixed). I understand there is no active recall on this issue, however, does this not indicate the recall performed failed? that being said, I dont feel safe driving around in a vehicle that says my airbag wont deploy if I am in an accident.
Takata inflators were changed due to recall in Jan 2018. In April 2018 I heard a strange noise & then the airbag light came on. Then I realized that only info showing on my panel was the phone hookup, along with the airbag light. I checked the horn & that did not work either. After checking fuses we called the dealership & made an appt to have it checked. We are told it is the clockspring that needs to be replaced. Cost is over $500. We called Volkswagen customer service & they stayed we had the clock spring replaced in 2016 under a recall. However we have no recollection of this being done. This noise & then the clicking & other issues connected to the clock spring happened as I was backing out of a parking spot in a shopping area. This can be very dangerous being that the airbag would not deploy if & when needed. Also I was almost hit by a vehicle that decided to backup without looking & I couldn't use my horn to warn the other driver. Thank god he realized what he was doing. As for the dealership saying they replaced the clock spring in may of 2016, my question is why was that replaced then & not the airbags" also, being there was recall on the airbag & it was being done, why didn't they redo the clock spring. I love the Passat but I don't want to get in an accident because of shoddy workmanship! I noticed a lot of other complaints about the clock spring & would like to know why you are not taking care of this issue" I feel that Volkswagen is having its customers pay for the airbag recall labor being that the clock spring goes bad shortly after repairs are done to the recalled airbag.
When backing out of my driveway, I heard a loud pop come from the steering wheel column. Immediately following, an alarm came up for "airbag error". also, all other functionality on my steering wheel was disabled, including the bluetooth access, radio buttons, etc. I contacted my VW dealership (boucher VW in racine, wi) and they stated that the issue was the airbag clock spring and that the air bag is not functional if this alarm is active. I asked if this was covered as a part of the recall (I believe the recall number is 15V-483) and they stated it was not and that the estimate for the repair would be approximately $550. I asked why this was not covered as a part of the recall but was not provided an explanation. I will follow up with this question when I take the car in for service in the next few days.
Related to NHTSA id number 10929850 where vehicle keeps trying to relock itself. Dealer says that the internal latch has failed within the driver's door. The door will no longer lock. They want $426.65 to replace it. I have never heard of such a thing...sounds like a safety defect to me.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Haines City, FL, USA