2016 Volkswagen Passat
This year drew an ordinary 106 complaints for a Volkswagen Passat — the model's median is 152. What they were about is the unusual part: 31.1% of them mention assistance, against 11.1% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Volkswagen Passat, which began in 2012. 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 | 106 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 152 |
| Involving a crash | 4 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 26 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- assistance — 31.1% of this year's complaints, against 11.1% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: assistance, offered, fuel odor, great.
- smell — 20.8% of this year's complaints, against 5.4% across the other years of this generation (3.8×). Owners wrote it as: smell, cabin, strong, gasket.
- assist — 19.8% of this year's complaints, against 6.4% across the other years of this generation (3.1×). Owners wrote it as: assist, feature, front assist, disabled.
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
I WAS SLOWING DOWN AND PULLING INTO A PARKING SPOT IN FRONT OF A RESTAURANT FOR LUNCH. MY 2016 VW PASST V6 SUDDENLY SWIRLED TO THE LEFT, JUMPED OVER CURBS, AND BUSTED ALL FOUR TIRES BECAUSE OF THE IMPACT. TOWED TO THE DEALER AND WAS TOLD THAT I COULD STEPPED O…
ISSUE WITH THE LANE ASSIST FEATURE. SEEMS LIKE IT IS TO SENSITIVE. ON 3/3/19 I WAS DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY GOING ABOUT 65 MPH ON A SLIGHT CURVED ROAD AND THE WITH CLEAR MARKINGS. THE SYSTEM SEEMS TO HAVE PICKED UP ON SOME TIRE MARKS AND SWERVED TOWARDS THE CENT…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V389000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 16V403000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 15V705000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
- 20V561000 UNKNOWN OR OTHER
- 21V321000 UNKNOWN OR OTHER
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 2016 Volkswagen Passat? What happened to yours?
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