2006 Volkswagen Passat
Complaints about this year name bolt far more often than the other years of this generation — 7% of them, about 17× the usual rate of 0.4%.
First year of a new generation. The Volkswagen Passat was redesigned for 2006. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 576 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 148 |
| Involving a crash | 21 |
| Involving a fire | 6 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- forums — 6.4% of this year's complaints, against 2.3% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: forums, com, vwvortex, vwvortex com.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- lock — 15% of complaints, 3× usual
- steering column — 14% of complaints, 3× usual
- oil pump — 6% of complaints, 16× usual
What owners wrote
STARTED TO SOUND LIKR A DEISEL ENGINE AND LEAK OIL. OIL PUMP BOLT BACKED OUT. TOO EXPENSIVE TO FIX.
WE HAVE 2006 3.6L VW PASSAT WITH 55K MILES FOR MY DAUGHTER. JUST RECENTLY THE OIL LIGHT CAME ON AND THE ENGINE SEIZED WHILE DRIVING UNDER 30 MPH. IT HAD BEEN RUNNING GOOD AND NO OIL WAS LEAKING. THIS SEEMS TO BE RELATED TO AN ISSUE MANY OTHER PASSAT OWNERS EXP…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V247000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V509000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 16V079000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 05V540000 STEERING
- 06V472000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC
- 06V470000 VISIBILITY
- 24V834000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Volkswagen Passat was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2006 Volkswagen Passat? What happened to yours?
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