Tank Assembly problems of the 2006 Volkswagen Passat

The gas tank of my car was damaged while I was driving on the highway of 380 near the scranton, PA. At the beginning I did notice this problem until I parked my car in the city mall nearby the highway. The gas leak was significant. 10 gallons of gas was leaked out in less than 15 min. The fire-fighter helped me clean the parking area and avoid a potential fire. Based on an insurance damage adjuster's investigation, the damage could result from an impact of a hard object such as ice or a small rock on the highway. The gas tank is going to be replaced at the cost of $1400. I am really surprised that german engineers have not thought such an accident during the winter. Obviously the cheap material of the gas tank and lack of proper tank shield could contribute to this damage.

I purchased a 2006 Passat from graham automotive in sioux falls, sd on December 20, 2005. On Friday, Feb 24th when driving on I-229 in town I thought I heard some sort of noise in the trunk. Upon getting to my destination, I noticed a smell like gasoline, I looked under the vehicle to notice that there was a leak in the right front section of the gas tank. I immediately took the vehicle to the same dealership which was 2 miles away. They put it up on the rack and had already determined it was not covered by warranty. I looked at the gas tank and noticed that the part of the gas tank that was ruptured was exposed and had to have been damaged by some kind of debris. When driving on the highway I never saw anything in the road or anything fly from behind the vehicle, it was a sunny day so visibility was good. I have spoken with the service manager and the general manager of this dealership and they both claim this is not the fault of design and are not honoring the warranty on this issue. They said I could speak with the regional vw rep, john farber on March 1st when he's in town. They quoted me a price of $900 to replace the gas tank. On March 1st, I met with mr farber and doug the service manager, they had already discussed this as mr farber had a copy of the warranty info prepared with highlighted text saying that it was not covered and he would not do anything for me. I then showed him a news story I saw online about government investigations into ruptured gas tanks on Nissan muranos and Chrysler pacificas. He seem uninterested in this and stood his ground. The dealership only offered a 10 percent discount on the $900 estimate. I have informed them of my intentions to contact your office on this matter.