Ignition Module problems of the 2003 Volkswagen Passat

The contact owns a 2003 Volkswagen Passat. While driving 45 mph, the vehicle jerked and stalled. The vehicle inadvertently shifted in reverse and the brakes stopped working. The contact had to apply the parking brake. The contact mentioned that the gear shifter was stuck in park. Also, the check engine, tire pressure, and epc indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to heritage Volkswagen of south atlanta at (678) 263-3711 (4305 jonesboro rd, union city, GA 30291) where it was diagnosed that the ignition control module needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and confirmed that there were no recalls associated with the VIN. The contact was advised to call NHTSA. The approximate failure mileage was 172,000.

The vehicle was traveling at 60 mph on the road and then it started to shake and lost power. The vehicle check engine light came on and started to blink. The incident nearly caused an accident as others vehicles were trying to avoid collision with this car. The defect was the ignition coil for cylinder number 2.

On the 22 January I picked my car up from the vw dealership where I had it repaired. I had told the dealer to replace the timing belt, water pump, belts, spark plugs, brakes and rotors and the 95,000 maintenance on the car. This cost me well over a thousand dollars, I supplied brakes and rotors and spark plugs. The car ran okay but I began to smell oil burning and whenever I unlocked my car to get in it would lock automatic and then when I started it the alarm would go off. I called the dealership about the oil smell and they had me bring it back in to look at. At that time they said there was a small leak and they would clean it and tighten the bolts, this was on Friday January 26th. On Monday January 29th I was traveling and when I pulled on to the 4 lane highway and accelerated the engine light began to flash on and off, so I pulled to the side of the road and the car died. After a few minutes I was able to restart it but it ran very rough. The state highway patrol called a tow truck and it was towed to the Volkswagen dealer. The next day they informed me that an ignition module had gone out and that it would cost me 30 some dollars a piece to replace them and they recommended replacing them all. When I ask them about the recall they told me that Volkswagen was into the k's on these and my was before that. I had ask them about this when I received the recall letter from vwofa, and was told that they would check it. I'm not sure whether they did or not.

8/01/03 - car inspected and told had proper j ignition coils installed 8/18/03 - car again inspected and told had proper j ignition coils installed 11/18/03 - coil ignition recall was performed on the car for a 3rd time. After all three attempts of checking the ignition coils they yet failed again. This is the 12 coil I have had replaced on a Volkswagen in 2 years.

Consumer states that the vehicle ignition coil is not working. Dealer notified.