Assist problems of the 2021 Volkswagen Passat

The vehicle lane assistance feature for my 2021 Volkswagen Passat nearly caused me to collide with another vehicle on two separate occasions. While driving home on my regular route, there are many cross streets where intersecting traffic may cross in order to facilitate a left turn. On one such occasion a vehicle pulling a utility trailer crossed in front of me but did not proceed through entirely, leaving the trailer sticking out into the lane ahead of me. As I approached I attempted to pilot the car into the right lane adjacent to me, in order to avoid a collision. The lane assist feature took control of the vehicle's steering, pulling me back on a collision-course toward the trailer and other vehicle. I was forced to wrest control of the wheel in order to avoid the other vehicle resulting in a near-miss. Several days later a similar occurrence happened, causing me to lose confidence in the vehicle entirely. This feature can not be permanently disabled, meaning that each and every time I start the car, I am forced to actively disable it. Should I forget to do so, I am in danger of another similar incident. A phone call to Volkswagen confirmed that there is no way to disable this feature permanently, and there is no intent to make an update to vehicle software. This feature, rather than assisting in the safety of individuals, is actively putting lives at risk! Volkswagen refused to offer a vehicle buy-back. I think that the dangers posed here are enough to investigate and also to mandate that manufacturers offer an option to permanently disable the active lane assist feature.

The contact owns a 2021 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated that while driving in the rain at an undisclosed speed, the lane departure assist malfunctioned, causing the steering wheel to inadvertently move to the right or left. Additionally, the high-beam headlights were aimed too high upwards, making it difficult for the contact to see the road ahead. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the dealer informed the contact that the lane departure assist function could not be deactivated and that the high-beam headlights could not be adjusted. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 100.

The assisted lane control is working terribly on my car and cannot be turned off permanently. The take over steering must be turned off before I drive the car every single time. It does not work properly. Last week I went to steer around a pothole and almost went in the ditch because the steering control was "fighting" with me to not let me steer where I needed to go. The previous incident I was trying to go around a cyclist and had to literally fight with my steering to keep it from hitting the biker. It is terrible. The dealer told me it could not be permanently disabled. It is a hazard and someone is going to get hurt. The service rep told me that NHTSA has made it mandatory for the car manufacturers to have these safety features disabled by default with no way to permanently turn them off. I want to stress how unsafe this is. I truly believe there are many things government can help us with but to get in the middle of me steering my car is not one of them. This is government overreach. The vw customer care person I spoke to also told me they have been plagued with complaints from owners who want the steering control disabled. There is a setting to disable it, but I have to remember to turn it off every single time I start my car. I want the NHTSA to (1) put pressure on vw to fix the steering assist problem and allow for steering changes to safely pass bikers and other vehicles on the shoulder without needing the directional signal and (2) make the assist something that can be turned off by default. I do like to use it when I am on a long highway drive, but never around town. It is terrible and beeps and takes control of the steering and I am tired of fighting with my car. Someone will get killed if you leave it like this. People need to decide for themselves if they want the steering assist or not. Default on needs to end when a person turns it off - it stays off until they turn explicitly it back on.

Vw lane assist is on when the vehicle is turned on. It must be turned off by the driver which I forget to do. Driving on country two lanes I've encountered joggers, bikers in the designated bike lane, service vehicles on the right shoulder. When I give them some extra room to avoid them the active lane assist steers the car towards the people I'm trying to avoid. If the road is pitched enough the lane assist steering is rather abrupt. There is no feature that allows lane assist to be disabled and manually re-enabled when needed. The best solution would be to allow lane assist only when the active cruise control is active.