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.
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.
Five times in the past 6 months the power in the van basically turns off. The steering becomes next to impossible and the brakes become extremely tight to the point you can't even use them. It is terrifying to have zero control over your car considering I have 4 children. It has happened while I was going only 30mph and also when I was going 45 mph. It happens when I'm going straight and has also happened while turning. Since the latest issue I refuse to drive anywhere that I can't take back roads to.
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!"
I was driving my 2009 Routan this morning (8/6/18) in a round-A-bout when out of blu my steering and brakes completely locked up and my ABS light came on. I had traffic behind me. I almost went over the curb and caused an accident due to this happening. I praise god that I and everyone around was safe. My vehicle has already had the ignition ssswitch replaced twice. I had it checked for codes and nothing came up. I noticed a huge amount of complaints regarrding this. What is it going to take to get this fixed" there are lives on the line. When a vehicle shuts down on the highway that will cause a major accident. Is Volkswagen and NHTSA willing to live with that knowing that this has been a major issue with this vehicle for some time? how many injuries or deaths do you need to prove to you that this is a safety issue"
We were driving the vehicle when all of the sudden it stalled! there is no check light on and when it does this we lost all power breaking and steering. This almost happened to us around an elevated corner luckily we had just past the curve when we lost all power. In reading this is a common problem on the town and country Routan Grand Caravan and all associated models. Something should be done due to the danger and potential risk to human life! we bought this van to keep our children safe not have to worry of it will loose power steering at 30 mph in a canyon corner!
- Spanaway, WA, USA
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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.
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.
The contact owns a 2009 Volkswagen Routan. While driving 60 mph, the contact detected a burning odor without warning. In addition, the contact observed smoke outside and inside the vehicle. The contact stated that the instrument panel, headlights, and radio failed to work. The contact was able to pull the vehicle over, opened the hood, and saw no sign of a fire. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the wire from the ignition switch to the starter had failed (burned) and needed to be replaced. Also, the power steering line failed and leaked. The independent mechanic stated that there were so many electrical failures with the vehicle and recommended her to contact NHTSA. The local dealer and manufacturer were not contacted. The vehicle was not included in NHTSA campaign numbers: 15V194000 and 14V396000 (electrical system: Ignition switch). The failure mileage was 145,000.
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.
The contact owns a 2009 Volkswagen Routan. While driving approximately 30 mph, the power steering failed intermittently without warning and the engine stalled. The vehicle became increasingly difficult to control. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where the technician diagnosed that the ground strap cable needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 90,000.
The contact owns a 2009 Volkswagen Routan. While driving 35 mph, the vehicle stalled and the power steering warning light illuminated. The failure recurred on numerous occasions. The vehicle was taken to a dealer who was unable to diagnose or repair the vehicle. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 88,000.
After my van has been sitting for a while and it been warmed up for 15 minutes. With in the first 2 to 5 miles of driving the traction control light will come on and the van will shut off and the steering wheel and break will fail. Then I have to turn the key to off and restart the van and it sometime repeat itself if I'm stuck in traffic.
I bought this Routan aprox 8 months ago, nothing but problems, it has shut down in city traffic and highway speeds, I am aware of recall #28H1 from VW that 2 VW dealerships deny even exist.the dealer I bought this from test and diagnosed it as a defective wins module { ignition switch } and contacted a VW dealership in barre Vermont and said they would order a module and scheduled a date to install it, a couple of days before appointment I myself decide to bring in myself and called to verify the date and time, there service department asked me for a recall number of which at the time I did not have because my service manager where I bought it from set this up.after tracking down the correct service rep at walker VW in barre Vermont she informed me they did not order the part and there is no wins modules available yet 06/01/15 even though this recall was dated in March of 2014, still no fix whats up with that " I guess our lives and the lives of our loved ones do not matter it is time for someone or the NHTSA to impose some serious preasure on volkswagon and demand that our vehicles be repaired correctly they should be brought up on charges for deceiveing the public.even my own dealership has not been telling me everything until I corner them or catch them off guard, come to find out after squeezing it out of my own local service manager is that a wins module had already been replaced in my Routan for the prior owner, probably to pasify the customer.I am at this point looking at the legal grounds we all should have against these corperations like volkswagon or even Chrysler since they produced Routans for volkswagon. I would hate to trade this vehicle in just for some other sap to be stuck with a lemon.its just not safe or dependable and we have a long trip in two days 50/50 chance we make it down and back with know problems ??"
My wife was driving our van when she pulled out onto the main road from our driveway when the vehicle lost all power, including power steering and brakes. Fortunately there was no accident but she did have to stop the vehicle and cycle the keyswitch to restart the vehicle. I have contacted the closest dealer to have this known recall fixed on our van only to be told they have to witness this event happening. Though this has happened 3 times since we bought the car used 3 months ago it is a very intermittent issue. The dealer is about an hour and a half from our house which makes it a 3 hour round trip and a day off from work. I don't mind taking a couple of days off to get this problems solved but the service manager told me some of these vans have not been repaired for 4 months because they cannot duplicate the problem. Whatever happened to the customer is always right" needless to say this is a safety issue and a huge liability. I did contact Volkswagen customer care and they told me the dealer should replace the part and it does not have to be witnessed by their personnel. With that information in an E-mail I once again contacted the dealer and they basically told me VW customer care was wrong and they would have to duplicate the problem in their shop. I am very frustrated with this whole process. It is a known problem...shouldn't they fix it before harm or even death comes to my loved ones" the dealer is lithia VW (phone (541) 774-7500) in medford, Oregon and the service personnel I talked with was named [xxx]. I do have the E-mail from VW customer care and that came from a representative named [xxx]. I would appreciate any help in this matter. Thank you! information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
We have owned the vehicle for about 2 months with no issues, when we purchased the vehicle it came with a clean carfax listing no recalls. On 3/10/15 my wife was driving on a 2 lane country road going about 35mph when the vehicle suddenly lost power and she lost control of the vehicle. The engine appeared to have cut out, she had no power steering and no power brakes and was unable to stop or steer the vehicle. The dash displayed the anti-slip light, but no others. The vehicle slowed down to a stop, thankfully there was no oncoming traffic as she was no longer in her proper lane, and no cars behind her. She was able to put it in park and restart it as if nothing had happened and it was fine after that for the rest of her commute. We contacted VW about the issue and they requested that we bring the car to a VW dealer for inspection. We did that, and VW claimed that our vehicle was not impacted by recall # rna1, but instead they insisted the issue was caused by a faulty egr valve, and gave me an engine trouble code of C121C that they claimed corresponded with the failing egr valve. VW charged me over $100 for the diagnosis, and a day later after complaining to VW customer care they agreed to refund the charges. I brought the vehicle back to the independent dealership that I originally purchased the car at the same day that VW diagnosed this, and they were not in agreement with the egr diagnosis, and also could not corroborate the trouble code C121C as being related to an egr issue, rather it comes up as a torque request signal denied trouble code instead. The independent dealer also found that I had stored codes for ABS malfunctions, sunroof errors and mic/ccn instrument cluster. The independent dealer cleared these codes before leaving that day. On 3/25/15 my wife was driving at about 35mph when the cars engine shut off again in a similar fashion. No codes
The contact owns a 2009 Volkswagen Routan. While driving approximately 40 mph, the steering wheel seized without warning. In addition, the contact stated that the brakes failed to respond when the brake pedal was depressed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 14V396000 (electrical system); however, the part needed to do the repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 91,770.
The clockspring in the steering wheel went out. At 28 miles the traction control turns on and the car starts braking even if the car is not skidding. Very dangerous. Our mechanic told us the clockspring is a common problem with both the Volkswagen routon and the Chrysler town and country. I found one report on the internet that said Volkswagen started servicing the clockspring as of 2010 routon models but did nothing for the 2009 routon.
Was driving on a residential street when the engine shut off without warning. Completely lost all power (steering, brakes, etc). Was able to pull over to side of road thankfully only going 25 mph and no traffic. Put vehicle in park, started up immediately and ran fine after that. Received recall letter in mail the following week stating the ignition switch can turn off without notice incident happened 2 additional times, similar circumstances. Spoke with dealer and VW corporate on 3 separate occasions. Volkswagen states they do not have a solution for the recall repair at this time, nor will they do anything about the possible safety issue of the vehicle shutting off and causing an accident.
Catastrophic failure of transmission at 76K. Major transmission work done approximately 26K. Transmission replaced 6 months later and still has issues (sluggish, non-smooth shift between gears at higher cruising speeds. VW engineer gerardo zeledon calls this the "Routan shake" and claims this is normal. Approximately 95,000 miles steering began seizing up while in motion. This is, according to recall notice and service manager at flow VW winston salem nc, a behavior related to a recall on the ignition switch (ntsha 14V-396). No parts are available and the car is unsafe to drive. However, VW cannot fix the problem and will not allow us to use a loaner.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Easton, MD, USA