I purchased this car 2 years ago and have have the parking brake fail and break three times. The first time was shortly after the purchase and the car came out of gear in my driveway and began rolling. My 65 yo mom had to stop it and push it up as she was home alone. It turned on another time while I was crossing an intersection and I was almost T-boned. I had it replaced after this incident. In May 2020 the parking brake would not disengage and I needed to have it towed to my mechanic. The brake was stuck on and the computer control unit broke. I paid $2500 to have the unit replaced. In Dec 2020 (only 7 months later) the exact thing happened again. I was unable to disengage the parking brake and needed to tow it to my mechanic. The caliper and computer broke again. The cost is similar. This is a safety issue. If you look at any VW forums you will see this is a known issue with many people having their brake stuck and unable to engage/disengage the unit. I reached out to VW and had no resolution. I request the parking brake be recalled and everyone who had work done on it, including myself, received a full refund.

- Lake Carmel, NY, USA

Have replaced numerous parts...the epx light keeps coming on which may reference to the oil pump bolt failing...crankshaft and cam shafts codes keep coming on even though they were replaced...transmission shifting slightly hard.. overheating even though new parts were installed...air bag light stays on..brakes have been bleed over 10 times and are still too soft cause me to brake at a further distance to avoid a wreck....I am on a fixed income and cant afford a massage bill to fix it and VW is aware over these years of the issues and wont recall to repair any of the issues...I have all receipts for the parts replaced...

- Ripley, WV, USA

When stopped and start going and get to about 30 mph and shifts into third gear the emergency brake system engages and I can barely move. I have to turn my VW Passat off, wait a couple minutes and turn it back on form the emergency brake to dislodge. Example: I'm in vegas at a stop light it turns green so im going up a on ramp to get on freeway and as soon as I accelerate and car shifts into 3rd gear a yellow P with a circle around it comes on my dash and when I push on the gas ( I had many cars behind me) my car revved up but would not go because the emergency parking brake came on. And it continues to do it to me. If I can get past third gear it's fine and 1st and 2nd gear are ok. I just purchased the car and called on recalls there weren't any. This almost made me have a serious accident on my way home the same day. Because I have to go over a pass to get home it did it to me 4 times and the last time cp8ld of killed me. Ive been reading the problem others are having with vehicle and they are the same as mine. Braking system failure on 2006 volkswagon Passat. Please help us who can not afford to pay to have it fixed. And I cant sell it because I cant let somone else get hurt. This is my only transportation and I love my car. But now I'm scared to drive now. I can't afford to fix it and can't risk selling it and now have nothing to get to work. Please help. Thank you

- Pahrump, NV, USA

My vehicle does. Sudden stop while I'm driving emergency brake lights up nd then on dash it state to stop vehicle pull over and doesn't want to advance to move out of danger from traffic on streets and freeway. Then I won't want to advanced at time and the prnd all light up at one or none at all at time. This has happened about X 4 times last year and now it keeps doing it every time. So know I just keep my car parked because I'm afraid of putting my kids in danger I can't even take it in to a dealer for airbag recall.

- Paramount, CA, USA

My car was driving and brakes were working fine. Then I tried to stop as I came to a red light N brakes totally failed. I couldn't stop N went right through the red light and I between 2 car B4 finally coming to a stop a half mile later. I drove the car on backstreets and the brakes will work when I start going but after a few stops they start getting soft until they just totally fail. Their is plenty of brake fluid in the system.

- Naples, FL, USA

There was a valve body recall for rough shifts. I had noticed these a couple of times. Also the vacuum pump, airbags ects.

- Springfield, MA, USA

Hello- parking brake will not disengage, making car undriveable. Parking brake also turns on on its own when the car is on (stationary on mine, in motion on others cars) and also when car is off. My car was also parked and the brake unreleased and the car went backwards down the driveway. My 65 mother was home alone and ran out and stopped and held the car (and pushed it back up driveway) herself. Forums have stated this is a known issue and the parking brake turns on when driving which has resulted in crashes/ accidents and injuries.

- Lake Carmel, NY, USA

ABS system is failing. Anti-lock brakes do not work well, dashboard ABS signals are constantly on. Parking brake light constantly flashes. Just called VW usa customer service. There is a recall for this issue (NHTSA campaign number: 16V-913) but the recall covers model years 2009 and 2010. My car is a 2006, but has the exact same issues. Volkswagon would not offer any repairs or diagnostics since my vehicle was not listed on the recall. Perhaps the amount of vehicles affected is larger than the recall points out?

- Eagle, CO, USA

Has I was driven the car will came up with need services soon and will show brake light on and dead systems failed check parking brake and if you press the parking brake button on and off the car will nearly such gears or nearly move at all where if you shout it of the car and then wait for 5_10 min and turn it back on it will go like nothing wrong at all. Transmission has oil and I don't know what it is.

- Holiday, FL, USA

This vehicle has an electronic parking brake (ebrake) system. The parking brake is set/released by pressing a button on the left side of the dash board. When I came to a stop at home, I pressed the ebrake and the ebrake light started to flash and I was unable to set it. So I disconnected the battery for a few minutes which apparently reset the system and it worked properly again. Then a few days later my wife had the vehicle in town. She got in to leave the market and tried to release the ebrake but it began to flash and she was unable to release it. She called me because she was stuck there and didn't know what to do. I told her to try and disconnect the battery and then reconnect it. She was near a gas station so she borrowed a wrench and did what I told her to do. Again the vehicle reset itself and my wife was then able to release the brake and come home. Now I avoid using the ebrake for fear of that happening again, but now I feel that I'm out a parking brake and I'm not sure if I'll have an issue with it while driving it. I saw complaints on line about people with this car model having the ebrake engage while driving causing immediate corrective steering to avoid an accident! please consider this as a very important safety issue, worthy of re-call status.

- Hilo, HI, USA

Parking brake (button push) randomly engages without the button pushed. Sometimes I engaged the parking brake when I park the car, but when I come back to the car and try to disengage it, it will not disengage.

- Potomac, MD, USA

Electronic emergency brake fault; was driving on January 18,2014. My daughter was driving about 35 mph when this emergency brake light started flashing yellow. Also there was a red brake light that was flashing and beeping three times. She got the car under control mind you she is only 17 and she just bought this car from campus auto here in fort Dodge, ia on the 10th and he told her nothing was wrong with the car. Everything has went wrong with this car that can go wrong. She pulled over and read in her manual that with the beeping 3 times and the red light indicator said that she was suppose to get it to a trusted mechanic right away. So she did the smart thing and called me to have the car taken to a mechanic. But what if she would have been on the highway and this would have happened. She would have lost control of this car on a highway. Please look into these Passat. There is something seriously wrong with them. Wheel bearings are bad in the rear. Fuel pump went bad. Coils burn. These are all dangerous things. Please help.

- Fort Dodge, IA, USA

Electronic emergency brake fault -- it is now the 3rd time my electronic emergency brake has failed (unable to disengage/release). The second time was last June of 2012 the dealer replaced the module, caliper, housing, wiring to the tune of $1800. Yesterday it happened again where the electronic switch was flashing and would not release and also the red brake light indicator in display was also flashing had car towed to dealer. I have read other complaints that have been posted and wondering why this has not been addressed with the manufacturer. It appears there is a safety concern with this electronic emergency brake design. There is something very wrong with this design. Please address this with the manufacturer as soon as possible. I can't afford to purchase a new car but at the same time have a concern for my safety.

- Jackson, NJ, USA

I have a VW Passat 3.6 and am always having an issue with the parking brake. Currently I am unable to get the parking brake to release and don't know why. This has been going on for several months and the only place I go to get it serviced is Volkswagen. On about 5 different occasions the brakes would not engage nor disengage.

- West Columbia, SC, USA