2009 Volkswagen Passat
This year drew an ordinary 152 complaints for a Volkswagen Passat — the model's median is 148. What they were about is the unusual part: 13.2% of them mention parked, against 4.5% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Volkswagen Passat, which began in 2006 and ran to 2011. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 152 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 148 |
| Involving a crash | 5 |
| Involving a fire | 13 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| EPA combined | 23 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- parked — 13.2% of this year's complaints, against 4.5% across the other years of this generation (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: parked, car out, steer, dangerous issue.
- along — 7.2% of this year's complaints, against 1% across the other years of this generation (7.2×).
- damage — 10.5% of this year's complaints, against 4% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: damage, ignition coil.
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.
What owners wrote
WHEN PARKED OR WHILE DRIVING THE STEERING COLUMN LOCKS UP CAUSING THE CAR TO LOSE THE ABILITY TO STEER OR WILL AUTOMATICALLY SHUT THE CAR OFF WHILE IN TRAFFIC!! THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL ON LINE COMPLAINTS ABOUT THIS SAME ISSUE AND VOLKSWAGEN REFUSES TO ACKNOWLE…
THE STEERING WHEEL CONTROLS STOPPED WORKING ONE DAY, ALONG WITH THE HORN. SEVERAL DAYS LATER, THE AIRBAG WARNING LIGHT CAME ON, AND THE DISPLAY SHOWS "AIRBAG FAULT" EVERY TIME I START THE CAR. I PURCHASED AN EXTENDED WARRANTY FOR THIS CAR, AND VW REFUSES TO CO…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V148000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V509000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 16V078000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 08V577000 STEERING
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 2009 Volkswagen Passat? What happened to yours?
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