general problems of the 2012 Volkswagen Passat

I've repeatedly tried to contact manufacturers about this recall in which they state they will call back and never due , I feel this is a immediate problem and should be fixed due to it may cause harm or death.

Any time it rains and the car goes through a deeper than surface level puddle/wet area where the nose of the car has to dip down (think by railroad tracks, high water retention areas with lack of drainage, etc) as soon as the car dips down into the water, the steering wheel will lock up and I am unable to turn. It's severely dangerous as there is no give at all to the wheel as it is solidly locked and if you happen to be taking a curve or changing lanes etc, you will not be able to turn the car. My husband and myself have narrowly escaped severe car accidents as this is random and there is nothing you can do except try to force the wheel to turn. When I say the wheel is locked, it's a good 15-20 seconds of desperation trying to turn the wheel before it finally unlocks and I am able to correct the direction of the car. Living in FL with high rainfall chances, including sporadic downpours that unfortunately leave situations like this to occur often, it is a severe safety risk for myself and for other drivers. I have been lucky so far that when this has occurred I have been able to eventually correct the steering, however there have been several severe near misses that are completely out of my control. Please help find a solution, as there doesn't seem to be a fix for this anywhere that I've looked. I do not want to spend money I don't have taking it from dealership to dealership for them to be just as stumped as we are. I have two young kids and not only do I not feel safe letting them in the car, I seriously dread any time it rains because of this issue. I'm not talking about driving through deep bodies of water, but normal rainy weather situations on everyday roads that are otherwise uneventful. Unfortunately I am in an area where water seems to gather quite a bit on the everyday roads I need for work and this situation is truly unavoidable. I put one date below as when it occurred, but it has happened several times in the last week alone due to heavy rains.

Bought in July and had 38461 miles and only put 3000 miles since bought. Driving down the road and it started raining and had 2” of water in my drivers side floor board. Took to jack morris auto glass and they looked at it and said the pan on the driver’s side of the sunroof was cracked. He told me that driving it was risky as it could catch fire and cause electrical issues. Please advise.

I heard a loud crack while turning my steering wheel and now I have an "airbag error" message and the controls on my steering wheel do not work. Is this related to the airbag recall? is it the steering wheel clock spring?.

Door lock actuator breaks without the operator realizing it, resulting in a threat to the safety of the operator and security of the vehicle. The only way to diagnose the issue is using vw code scanners, otherwise, there are no obvious traits to an unsuspecting owner that the door locks are inoperative. Vw dealer near by estimates the repair at $400 and regularly keeps the part in stock due to this issue.

While driving the vehicle it will loose driving power, check engine light will come on as well as epc light. When taken to a mechanic it was found out that the whole throtke body needed to be replaced. I was also told that this was a dealer only part, when the mechanic shop called to order the part from the dealership they were told that the part was on a national back order and that it could be 6 months to a year before a part was avaliable. When I called the dealership a week later the part was still on back order, and they said that they had over 200 on a list waiting for this part, and to keep calling back to ask about the status. I have not been able to drive my vehicle since July 2020, and as of today 10/22/2020, accordinf to the dealership there is still no estimated timeframe that this part eill be available. I fell that if there is that many that if they do in fact have over 200 waiting for the part then there must be somthing defective with the current part that is on the vehicle.

Heater cor clogged. The vehicle has 78xxx miles. On the Volkswagen forms other people have the same issue also in other years. It is the same part used.

My vehicle will not turn off once started. The steering wheel lock and the ignition become stuck and I can no longer turn my car off. Since my car can't turn off, it will be on for hours on end until the gas runs out or until I get someone to cut the battery to make the car stop running. I had to leave my car in a parking lot because I was affraid to take it anywhere and not be able to turn my car off for hours on end. I feel I am not able to use my vehicle. The vehicle has less than 100,000 miles and is not even 10 years old. I feel the vehicle is unsafe to use.

My car caught on fire while I was driving and almost killed me and my daughter. The fire department came and put it out but it is a total loss. I think it could well be the starter as many 2011 build vw Passats were affected.

Front driver side door will not open nor will it unlock. Lately, (December 2018), I cannot open the door in the morning. Sometimes cold dry mornings, other mornings mist that has frozen, other mornings just cold. I have to go through the passenger side door and work my way over to drivers seat. Takes up to 20 minutes for the door to open. I found it easier if I have defrost on high heat with vent pointed to door. I find this a dangerous situation as I drive to work knowing something could happen and I could not get out.

Takata recall I looked up vehicles VIN an noticed 6 recalls on it I had got the issue fixed and I noticed my sensor in my tire was blinking I took it back to the dealership guy working told me only a sensor I need to pay for which I have already looked up an seen that it was a recall on the tire sensor on the 24 of February I'm riding down patton st in greensboro nc I noticed my airbag light was blinking steering wheel started to shake rattled me I pulled over and airbags deployed I began to get in the car I'm not sure why the airbags came out I had to go to the hospital due to the airbags hittn me in the face I have reached out to the dealership spoke with supervisor ebbie also disrespectful I'm only wanting my car fixed because of an issue that was recalled on Volkswagen vehicles.

My vehicle has been just fine up until Saturday morning,12/1/2018 at approximately 10:30. As I was making a right turn I heard clicking coming from my steering wheel. Mind you I would here this clicking hear and there but figured maybe my steering column was getting rusty not know it was more serious until now. After I parked my car I received and air bag error. My car was apart of the takata airbag inflator recall and I got that fixed at the dealer April 2017. When I called the vw dealer near my residence, the service advisor ask I bring my car in to diagnose however from the sounds of it, appears to be a spiral clock spring issue. Of course being a female I had concerns and ask several questions goong back to the airbag replacement to see if it all tied in together. The advisor advised since the recall was a year and half ago this is a different issue but again would diagnose the vehicle first. Here's my issue. As I reached more, I noticed a lot of complaints and investigations related to the clock spring failure. There were recalls but my vehicle was not included. That is a huge problem and very concerning and poor judgement on vw behalf. Now I'm driving with a possible faulty airbag that was not really fixed, my horn does not work, nor any controls on my steering wheel. In my opinion I should not have to come out of pocket for such repair due to the lack of vw. Vw are putting people's lives at stake. I've has electrical issues now this. Not reliable vehicles at all. I hope someone can look into this matter and address it. Thank you for your time!.

Secondary air pressure sensor failure after 37000 miles,part of emission and not covered under warranty. Vehicle was in motion.

My car has 59900 miles, key gets stuck in ignition when turning off the engine, I can not turn off my car now. I searched online, this is a common issue to vw cars, many vw owners complain the key is stuck in ignition and can not turn off engine, they had to bring the car to dealer to replace ignition switch.

On 01/10/18 I took my vehicle in for some recalls. On 05/22/18, I heard noise coming from the steering column, the airbag warning light illuminated on the dashboard and all of the steering-mounted controls failed. This occurred while I was driving, and can hear the noises most when turning. Based on my research and talk with other vw drivers, it appears to be the clock spring (which had a recall on it, and was supposed to have been fixed). I understand there is no active recall on this issue, however, does this not indicate the recall performed failed? that being said, I dont feel safe driving around in a vehicle that says my airbag wont deploy if I am in an accident.

Takata inflators were changed due to recall in Jan 2018. In April 2018 I heard a strange noise & then the airbag light came on. Then I realized that only info showing on my panel was the phone hookup, along with the airbag light. I checked the horn & that did not work either. After checking fuses we called the dealership & made an appt to have it checked. We are told it is the clockspring that needs to be replaced. Cost is over $500. We called Volkswagen customer service & they stayed we had the clock spring replaced in 2016 under a recall. However we have no recollection of this being done. This noise & then the clicking & other issues connected to the clock spring happened as I was backing out of a parking spot in a shopping area. This can be very dangerous being that the airbag would not deploy if & when needed. Also I was almost hit by a vehicle that decided to backup without looking & I couldn't use my horn to warn the other driver. Thank god he realized what he was doing. As for the dealership saying they replaced the clock spring in may of 2016, my question is why was that replaced then & not the airbags? also, being there was recall on the airbag & it was being done, why didn't they redo the clock spring. I love the Passat but I don't want to get in an accident because of shoddy workmanship! I noticed a lot of other complaints about the clock spring & would like to know why you are not taking care of this issue? I feel that Volkswagen is having its customers pay for the airbag recall labor being that the clock spring goes bad shortly after repairs are done to the recalled airbag.

Takata recall. 2017 had airbag recall completed, no issues prior to recall. After recall, horn sounds while driving and while vehicle is running, and can't be shut off. Dealership refuses to fix, identifies as new problem. Changed clock spring to fix horn issue for $500, horn now intermittently sounds while driving, steering wheel controls, and cruise controls no longer work.

Related to NHTSA id number 10929850 where vehicle keeps trying to relock itself. Dealer says that the internal latch has failed within the driver's door. The door will no longer lock. They want $426. 65 to replace it. I have never heard of such a thing. . . Sounds like a safety defect to me.

Windshield visibility defrost/defog failure: defrost failed on passenger side of vehicle. No heat on passenger side of vehicle. Causes ice accumulation on windshield and fogs up due to insufficient heat. Causes safety and drive-ability issues in cold and extreme cold weather. Heater core failure matches similar failure reported NHTSA id #10079822. Repair is the exact same as NHTSA id #10079822 as well as same repair replacement part. Shop acknowledges that the same part manufacture failure exists but does not include this VIN. Vw needs to expand part failure to include additional vehicles with same failing part. Failed part number 561. 819. 031. A and replaced with 561. 819. 031. B. Diagnosis is identical to the 2013 gasoline Passat. I have also confirmed that this repair is only being offered for gasoline cars and not the diesel cars. I cannot confirm but I believe that it has to do with the diesel recall. This is rotten I am not offered a fix for the emissions and they will buy my car back but I would take a loss of $3000. In the mean time they are not offering extended warranty repairs or are only offering them on gasoline fueled cars.

First the glow plugs were bad. Within the same year I had an issue with diesel particulates and now the adblue heating element!!! all issues occurred while the car was in motion, literally felt my life was in jeopardy. However after having to come out the pocket with now thousands of dollars I feel like the company is raping me!!!.

Adblue emissions heater tank failure. Code p202a. Not being covered by vw though currently in court for emissions scandal and repair/replacement of emissions system.

My 13 Passat se 2. 5 started having an issue with the rear passenger door lock about three weeks ago. The normal operation of the locks is that when the vehicle hits 10mph the door will automatically lock. After this has happened and I come to a stop light or slow down below 10mph and then speed up again, the rear passenger lock tries to lock itself again.

Takata recall- my husband and I took our vw Passat that has an emissions recall and takata recall and they said that the manufacture doesn't think that this is a big deal. The manufacture refuses to provide a loaner for our vehicle. They said that it is perfectly safe to drive. How can some manufactures put other customers in loaners because of the same recall and tell them not to drive and others say its not a big deal. I do not trust Volkswagen since we were also affected by their emissions recall. Can you please clarify and what the next step should be. We did have an appointment to get all recalls on this vehicle addressed and to get parts ordered. At this point recall notices are like monthly statements.

Takata inflators.

The check engine light came on 9/10/15. I brought the car into the dealership on 9/12/15 and learned that the car's adblue heater had gone and will cost just over $1,000 to replace. The adblue heater heats the adblue to remove no2 for emissions, however Volkswagen is claiming that this is not covered under the emissions warranty. The adblue system has not other purpose than for emissions and should be covered under the federal warranty, as the emissions would fall outside of the federal regulations without this component. Proper emissions help to keep our entire population safe and healthy from the harmful pollutants generated by vehicles.

The car was on cruise control then engine light came on and glow plug light started flashing. Also a winding noise was heard when accelerating which did not accelerate very well. I took it to the dealer and they said it would need a turbo which was just replaced 20,000 miles ago, mechatronic unit ,, ad blue hester kit ,particulate filter part . The car is 3 years old I put about 35k miles on a year. I service the car religiously never have missed required service. Over $6,000 dollar repair.

My spring clock broke on my vehicle. I can hear a clicking noise coming from the steering wheel as I turn. I airbag indicator light went on, my horn and controls on the steering wheel no longer work. It is a frightening feeling knowing that the airbags may deploy at anytime or not at all in an accident. Looking online to research the cost in replacing this piece, I have found that it is a very common problem.

2012 vw Passat with no previous signs of problems begins sputtering/flashing engine light. Car was driven apx. 1/4 mile back home, where it began smoking and caught fire. Entire engine burnt out. Car was under warranty. Nhtsa investigated Passat's faulty ignition coils yet did not issue a safety recall because there was no safety issue. . . But if the engine catches on fire. . . With all the combustibles in a car. . . One would think that was a little unsafe. Glad my 4 year old was not with me.

Tl-the contact owns a 2012 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated that while intending to close the front passenger's side door, the door was not able to close. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 57,000. Sa.

The check engine light came on and I had codes read. The code was p205c and this indicates the emissions adblue heater and sensor had a problem. The unit (heater and sensor) in the adblue tank is a non serviceable unit and must be replaced. Over $950. 00 to replace. Happened at 50,466 miles and dealer had no help even though a lot of tdi¿s are having identical problems. Seems to be a defect in design, many many tdi¿s are having the same problem.

Unable to unlock drivers side door on several occasions with key fob. No mechanical sound heard on drivers door when key fob pressed. All three (3) other doors unlocked with no issues. On a couple of other occasions, the drivers side door was unable to be opened from the inside and could not exit the car (handle only moved a small amount and seemed 'jammed'). After several times of pressing the lock/unlock button the door finally opened. Once I had to exit the car from the passenger side door. The inability to exit the car through the drivers side door is a safety issue in my mind.

Vehicle stumbles and hesitates during cold starts and clears up after approx 10 minutes. Consistently occurs daily essentially since vehicle was purchased. Issue was brought up a couple of times to dealer, but they indicated nothing was wrong and no errors seen in computer. There are several blogs online from hundreds of owners complaining of this issue and Volkswagen appears to not be resolving the issue. The concern is bucking, chocking and hesitation becomes a safety issue especially if you need to speed up to avoid a vehicle or crossing intersections when vehicle is cold. . . Safety is a concern and has been. . . . I did bring the vehicle to the dealer again and left with dealer for 1 week. . . They claimed the techn found no issue. . . . When I picked vehicle up it immediately had hesitation, jerky bucking issue. . . . Not acceptable.