I have a 2006 VW Passat that had a crankcase breather valve foul up for no reason. The vehicle was maintained in accordance with the VW recommended maintenance schedule and this is documented, however, the VW service rep indicated this was a result of not properly maintaining the vehicle. Specifically he stated that this is what happens when the owner fails to change the engine oil. (note: VW recommends changing the oil every 10K miles and calls for the use of synthetic oil. Both recommendations were followed in this case). This incident occurred when the vehicle had approximately 48,000 miles on the vehicle. The vehicle was driven under "normal driving conditions"--primarily highway driving in a non snow, non desert environment. As a result of this defect, there was an increase in emissions. Also, the engine began to seize up while I was traveling on an interstate highway thus putting me and my family in danger.

- Schertz, TX, USA

There were no events that led up to the failure. Basically the catalytic converter busted at a flange seam where it bolts to the motor. This further caused my brakes to fail after hot exhaust blew on the brake vacuum tube for the brakes. Unfortunately, neither Volkswagen or the dealer where I purchased the vehicle are willing to be of any assistance, since it is 8,000 miles over the warranty even though the car is only 2 years old. Supposedly the dealership ordered the part 10 days ago, and it still has not arrived. The irony of this is that when I asked the dealership if they would return the defective part to me, they said no because they want to return it to the manufacturer for a warranty exchange!

- Wilson, NY, USA

About a year ago our new 2006 VW Passat 2.0T started to have very hard shift when downshifting when car slowing down. Then the car engine started to hesitate and accelerated by itself until cal was undrivable. Dealer fixed the card in two weeks. Today a year later the car had the same issue, hard shifting when slowing down and engine hesitation accelerating by itself. Car undrivable.

- El Paso , TX, USA