Headlights problems of the 2006 Volkswagen Passat

Tl- the contact owns a 2006 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds at night, the driver side headlight failed to illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the light wires were defected and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 121,000. Aw.

I took the vehicle in to have the headlight repaired. Both had stopped working over the weekend due to the insulation becoming brittle and breaking off of both wires to the plug that holds the light bulb. The wires were shorting out preventing the headlights from working. I made a temporary fix by applying electrical tape to the wires that allowed the lights to work. The car has about 120000 miles on it. The service people at west houston vw, chris asselin, indicated this is a fairly common problem and the entire headlight assembly will need to be replaced at a cost of about $ 800. I see this as a defect with the wires used for the assembly. I checked on-line and there are numerous reports of problems with the 2006 Passat headlights failing. I contacted vw customer care for assistance and was denied any assistance due to the age of the car and the mileage. They also indicated there was no recall or service alert on the problem. I find this hard to believe since the staff at west houston vw knew exactly what the problem was once we described it to them. It seemed to be a fairly common problem that they have seen with the headlights failing. This is a serious safety issue both from the lack of lights and the possibility of an electrical short that could cause a fire. I have worked for a wire manufacturer and the insulation does not just become brittle and fall off of the wire. There is a manufacturing defect with the insulation on the wire. Vw needs to address this issue and issue a safety recall to repair/replace the defective wiring.

Takata recall. The contact owns a 2006 Volkswagen Passat. While driving at any speed, the headlights dimmed and forced the driver to drive with the high beams at night. There was no warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed that the headlight concealment device and the switches needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 37,792. Additionally, the contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 16v079000 (air bags); however, the part to do the repair was unavailable. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

I purchased a brand new vw Passat in January 2007. Since then I had to have the hid headlights fixed under warranty three times. In the last week I have now had the drivers headlight and the passenger head light burn out. Thus I have no headlights on vehicle that is less than two years old and has approximately 18,000 miles on it. This is my wife's car and she is almost legally blind in one eye. In my opinion the constant headlight failures (especially both in a two week time frame) represents a serious safety concern. I appreciate you investigation and feedback.

- the contact stated that while driving a 2006 Volkswagen Passat it stalled in a turn. He had been driving along steadily for 2 hours with out incident prior to the vehicle losing power. The contact took the vehicle to be serviced, and was informed that they could not find the cause of the problem. The passenger side headlight was inoperable, the work was completed, however 2 hours later the headlight failed again. The vehicle exhibits a one to three second lag in the accelerator, most noticeable when the consumer is truing to accelerator. There was a rattle coming from the headliner/sunroof assembly. There was a rubbing noise coming from the brakes. There was a rattling noise coming from the rear view mirror trim pieces. The windshield wipers were inoperative. The fog lights were inoperative. Updated 01/31/07.

Headlight system continuously fails. Has been repaired over five times.