Steering Column problems of the 2008 Volkswagen Passat

"steering column lock defective" warning displays on the obd panel regularly, yet randomly since purchasing vehicle. Bought in 2011 odometer 5,989, now in 2019 60,000 mi. Have reported this to vw dealer multiple times during service maintenance. Always told that no code pops, and no recall has been issued. Yet it occurs regularly causing the vehicle not to start. On one occasion, vehicle did start while warning was on display, attempted to exit parking lot, and while moving forward steering was unresponsive. Shut off vehicle and restarted. Warning did not reappear. If you reference - safercar. Gov - there are hundreds to thousands of complaints that discuss this same factory design flaw; some consumers report vehicle shutting down at highway speeds with this defect. All have the same quantry: vw will not address. A voluntary recall was issued without notification to owners in USA. It limited model/years and imposed an expiration date, even though it may affect all b6 Passats made during 2005-2010. Apparently, an open recall was issued for uk owners. My concern is that this defect has serious if not fatal safety concerns that vw is being allowed to pass on at the buyers expense. (dealer quotes range from $1,500-2,000 and above) now that vw is manufacturing in the us I am urging this agency to reinvestigate this manufacture defect affecting safe operation. I do have date/time stamped photos of this obd warning display. If vw wants to enjoy continued manufacturing in the us then they should be made accountable for replacing defective steering column systems through open recall to us buyers. This held true for emissions violations (us standards vs uk) shouldn't us buyers be given the same safety consideration as uk buyers.

When the car is started it immediately shuts itself off and says steering column lock defective. I took it to the dealer today and they told me this could cause more serious problems while driving, especially the airbag system. This seems like a very common issue with these cars and could potentially lead to life threatening situations while driving. A simple google search reveals hoards of people who experience the same issue with this model Passat.

Dashboard warning states " steering column lock defective".

Steering column lock malfunction, the vehicle will turn over but not fire. Every now and then it will fire and then immediately die. Luckily it went out while my vehicle was parked, if it were to malfunction while driving it could be very dangerous.

Vehicle has approx one year of difficult starts requiring multiple attempts. On 7/20/14 while driving in parking lot vehicle stalled and refused to restart despite numerous attempts. Towed home. Dtc showed control module for electronic steering column lock leaking. Vehicle refusing to start despite all other electrical components checking out. Check engine light not on.

I have a 08 Passat and for about a year now I have had a steering column lock defective problem. I would have wrote this letter a long time ago but when it started happening my warranty was already expired and it was not as severe, now it can take me anywhere from 5-15 minutes just to start my car and when I do get it started my car sometimes completely shuts off while im driving. I started doing research on this issue and there are a lot of upset vw owners with the same problem. If you google passat steering column lock defective problem you will see multiple websites and forums. I dont understand if so many people are having this problem why there hasn't been a recall?.