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.
The contact owns a 2009 Volkswagen Routan. The contact stated while at a stoplight, the vehicle stalled. There was an abnormally high pitch noise detected. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was jump-started by the police and was restarted. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and the contact was informed that the starter needed to be replaced. The failure mileage was approximately 54,000.
Thank god I was not going fast. Vehicle shut down completely while driving. Was able to put in park and was able to start it back up. Apparently, the Routan is manufactured by crysler and this issue also happens with the 09 town and countries as well.
Van has stalled while driving on multiple occasions. Power steering is lost. Vehicle will then start right back up. This is extremely dangerous for a minivan used to Transport multiple children. No codes or faults are recorded.
Vehicle has been moving and will suddenly shut down while driving. All power steering, braking and electrical systems go out. I have to try to manually swerve off the road and put the car in park. Take the key out of the ignition and restart. I understand that this problem had been fixed in 2015 under a recall with the win module and VW indicates that since it's been fixed they only offer a 12 month warranty. For me to get a new win module, the dealership said it would be $2,000 and a long estimated time without the car. This car is blue booked as only worth $3,500. This is again a faulty piece that should be covered by the recall. The car only has 75K miles. There's no reason to have a car with 75K miles and need two win modules so far. I want this to be in writing that when I am driving on I-95 and my car suddenly stalls and my 2 1/2 year old and 4 1/2 year old and myself end up in a casket, it's because of this faulty product which they will not cover again on the recall.
- Wilmington, DE, USA
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Car electrical system goes crazy, speedometer needle goes crazy. Radio turns off and on, then the vehicle turns off completely. It turns on after. Sometimes all this happens before turning off, sometimes it turns off suddenly with no warning. Have spent a lot of money trying to fix issue with no luck. Driving it makes me very nervous but I can't change cars right now. It has happened both on small streets and highway in motion.
First my Routan has been in my posession for I believe about 5 years. I check the oil regulary and keep oil changes, tires, and inspections up to date are regular. Since owning it, I have had a huge antifreeze leak (while on vacation), which was an easy fix, but essentially the part melted and had to be replaced, which is absurd! I was having a lot of issues with it not starting. You would have to try to start it over and over, and just when you called a garage it would start (this issue seemed to be fixed when the dealer changed the ignition, per the recall) for the past several months, the govener kickis in, and the vehicle will only go 30mph. It happens infrequently, but seems to becoming more frequent. The solution is to pull over, turn it off, start it back up, and your good to go for days to weeks until it does it again. Typically it happens shortly after starting a trip, and while gaining speed, you suddenly cannot go the speed you would like. I do believe it continues to get more frequent in occurance *** the scary thing that gets me to file a complaint**** I have seen this listed many times already. My husband was again away on a trip this weekend. He had just done a lot of circle type steering at the gas station trying to park (I mention this because someone else complained of this issue after a round about). He parked. He started the car again, he backed up, and when he tried to turn to get out of the parking spot, there was no steering. He pulled forward. He put it in park, he turned it off. He started it, he drove 2.5 hours home with my 3 kids under 9. he had no issues. What is wrong with the car, I am afraid to drive it. Thankfully he was going 2 mph, but I have seen cases of people on the interstate. What if I drive it, and we have an accident and my family dies" how can I drive a car that lost steering and feel safe!"
Vehicle will intermittently not start even after multiple try's. vehicle shuts off during driving events city and highway. ABS lights come on and stay on. Interior lights come on automatically during driving. Have had the vehicle to a VW dealer 4 times for this issue and they cannot diagnoses, nor remedy the issue. I have spent well over $2,000 for these VW dealer visits. This vehicle was built by Chrysler for VW and Chrysler issued a recall on the tipm for the Chrysler vehicles. VW refuses to issue a recall for the tipm. This is a major safety issue that causes the vehicle to shut off during driving and all power and braking functions are lost. At this time, I have no choice but to pay an additional $1,500 to have VW replace the tipm in the hopes that it resolves this dangerous safety issue and keeps my family safe. NHTSA must investigate this issue with Chrysler and realize that it applies to VW Routan vehicles built by them as well, and force VW to recall the vehicles and fix the issue at their cost and provide full reimbursement to all Routan owners who have this same safety issue. What actions are NHTSA taking on this critical safety issue?
The contact owns a 2009 Volkswagen Routan. While driving between 30 to 65 mph, the vehicle randomly jerked forward and backward as if it were skipping a gear. In addition, the check engine indicator illuminated afterwards several times. The contact spoke with two unknown dealers and then contacted an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the underdrive solenoid circuit of the transmission was malfunctioning. After conducting some research, the contact found that the manufacturer placed a Chrysler engine and transmission into her Volkswagen vehicle. The independent mechanic completed the repairs with another new Chrysler transmission solenoid part. While the contact was driving on the highway, the vehicle lost complete acceleration and had to be pulled over to the shoulder of the road. The vehicle was towed back to the independent mechanic, but had not yet been diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer provided case number: 181899879 and NHTSA's phone number to file a complaint. The failure mileage was 115,226.
The contact owns a 2009 Volkswagen Routan. While the contact was out of town, the vehicle failed to start and the check engine warning indicator illuminated. Once the vehicle was able to be started, the check engine indicator dimmed. The contact called a local dealer (green Chevrolet, 1703 avenue of the cities, East moline, il 61244) and was informed to take the vehicle to her local dealer for diagnostic testing. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 124,000.
While taking my grandson to school this morning on a very curvy country road the engine died on my 2009 volkswagon routain. Having no brakes and no power steering made it very difficult to control vehicle. I turned on emergency flashers when car finally stoped turned to off position then restarted engine. This is not the first time this has happened to me and my wife. Problem cannot be diagnosed by dealer why can't Chrysler fix this serious problem before someone gets injured or killed. I know as well as NHTSA that this has happened to many people. Previous recall fix for ignition switch at wv dealer to solve this problem did not work. Its a shame that many people have to injured or killed by a serious known problem like this before companies are forced to fix them.
Vehicle continues to shut down while driving without warning. Vehicle must either be stopped and restarted or placed in neutral while coasting to restart.
Since buying our 2009 Routan in the fall of 2016 we have sunk thousands into it trying to get it fixed because of the issues we have had shortly after buying it (ours did not come with a warranty from the VW dealer). At least twice a week, and sometimes more, it stalls while we are driving...usually at low speeds like when we are slowing down to make a turn or slowing down for a stoplight. Usually, all of the dashboard lights and controls will blink and ding repeatedly before stalling. It also stalls when sitting still. It will blink all of the lights, the controls will go crazy and the windshield wipers will go back and forth one time as it stalls. On Dec 11 it stalled on a major road in charlotte, nc and I lost all power so I could not even put on my flashers. I have an autistic child who was freaking out because I was trying to get all of the kids to be quiet so I could call my husband as we were sitting in the middle of a busy road. We were in a middle lane and the windows were up so I had to open my door quickly and wave for people to go around us. I kept watching my rear view mirror and praying we wouldn't get hit as cars zipped around us honking. The key was stuck in the ignition since there was no power. My husband was headed towards us and I waved people around us for about 5 minutes while jingling the key and trying everything to get something to work. The power finally came back and the key came out and I was able to restart and get home but my kids are afraid to go anywhere in that van again. We have replaced the battery, the control module (one of the most expensive things we tried), the erg valve, the alternator, and some other parts our mechanic wanted to try. Super Eagle auto care has been super helpful in trying to fix it but to no avail. We have learned since buying this vehicle that this is a common problem for VW Routan.
While driving on street or highway or stopped. Usually around 20-40mph car stalls. Brakes lock up/steering wheel locks up/no control of car at all. All lights indicate car is on, one bell goes off prior and anti-skid light comes on. By then panic cannot control car! put car in park after stopped and it starts right up.
Vehicle won't start. This is not the first time and I have filled previous incident reports. It left me stranded again today after I picked up medicine for a child at home recovering from surgery. This vehicle is unreliable and therefore the situation is unacceptable. Our mechanic has run diagnostics and can find nothing wrong. We took a leap of faith and had a new starter installed, this was not the problem. I would buy another car, but right now this is not an option for us. We need help!
Our Routan has, yet again, left me stranded. I was running errands with two of my children and the vehicle would not start. This is not an isolated incident for me or, it would appear from research I've done, for this make and model. Our mechanic has run diagnostics and can not find anything wrong. It is a safety concern because it is unreliable and leaves me stranded, twice late at night, several times, fortunately, in front of my own home and this needs to be addressed.
Engine will not start. Happens on occasion but happened enough that I had two starters installed as well as a battery. What else could it be" can turn the key and nothing happens. I can possibly sit there and turn the ignition 10+ times and still nothing. Thought it could be a bad spot in the new starter?" cleaned battery posts often and now have treated the connections. Would like not to receive another call from lovely wife that the van would not start. Has to be something with a circuit staying open or something. Safety issue due to not knowing if your car is going to start when you arrive to a destination. Issue has been going on for 2+ years and van has 100K miles last instance of issue: 23 June 2017
As we are driving the power steering completely cuts off and will not let you drive - the engine shuts off and your forced into turning the vehicle completely off them back on again. This happened while on the interstate in traffic which nearly caused a collision.
While driving at 65 mph on I35, the car's transmission acted like it slipped into 2nd gear and the tack went to 5000rpm. I tried to just slow down and get off the road, turned the car off and back on when I got to a parking lot. I then started driving again and it appeared to be alright. Within a few days it did it a couple times more, this time turning on the check engine light. Took it to the dealer and they couldn't duplicate problem in the week they had it. Picked it up from the dealership and was about 10 to 15 miles away and it did it again. I took it back to the dealer the next day and it has been there for two weeks. They told me an engineer from corporate came to check it out and during that time they had another car - same year, same style, even same color come into the shop with the same problem and they verified the problem on both of the cars. They said it was the transmission and it is going to cost somewhere around $5000 +/- to get it fixed. This is a very dangerous problem and I am hoping that something will be done about it. There are numerous stories on the internet with people in Volkswagen that have had the same or similar problems. Cannot see why there hasn't been a recall for this problem. They even admitted that they had seen the same or similar problems posted on the internet.
The contact owns a 2009 Volkswagen Routan. While driving 40 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact was unable to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to a dealer, but had not yet been diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 95,500. The VIN was unavailable.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Beverly, MA, USA