10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
21 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
18 / 0
Average Mileage:
21,906 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2013 Volkswagen Passat seat belts / air bags problems

seat belts / air bags problem

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2013 Volkswagen Passat Owner Comments (Page 2 of 16)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #298

Feb 042022

Passat

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Horn and drivers airbag in steering column no longer work. The clock spring is broken that powers both units.

- Shoshone, ID, USA

problem #297

Jan 072022

Passat

  • 17,000 miles
The contact owns a 2013 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated that the vehicle had been parked in the driveway all night and as she was approaching the vehicle, she noticed that the driver-€™s side air bag had deployed. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, the check engine warning light illuminated. The contact referenced NHTSA Campaign Number: 18V148000 (Air Bags). The dealer and the manufacturer were not notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 17,000.

- Yazoo City, MS, USA

problem #296

Nov 012021

Passat

  • miles
Airbag light is

- Boca Raton, FL, USA

problem #295

Sep 232021

Passat

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

When parallel parking, the steering wheel began making a clicking noise when turning. The volume and duration of the clicking increased after pulling out from parking spot into the street and the instrument panel airbag light/chime came on within a mile of driving. Clicking in wheel while turning persisted intermittently throughout driving. All electrical controls on steering wheel are no-response. Horn does not work, airbag deactivated, and all steering wheel electronic controls are no-response.

- St. Louis, MO, USA

problem #294

Apr 262021

Passat

  • miles
Clock spring broken in vehicle

- Queen Creek, AZ, USA

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problem #293

May 142021

Passat

  • miles
My steering column started making a clicking noise when I turned it, and then my driver-side air bag light came on.

- Turlock, CA, USA

problem #292

Dec 022020

Passat

  • 71,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Clock spring stopped while puling out my parking lot

- Bullhead City, AZ, USA

problem #291

Oct 312020

Passat

  • 69,987 miles
Clock spring broke

- Bullhead City, AZ, USA

problem #290

Dec 212020

Passat

  • 145,000 miles
Air bag and all steering wheel controls failed. Had similar issue and had clock spring replace 12/26/2016 and appears to have failed again 4 years later.

- Willoughby, OH, USA

problem #289

Apr 012020

Passat

  • 100,748 miles
The rear driver side taillights and turn signal quit working, replaced bulbs still broke. Airbag warning light stays on, this is the same problem that many of the VW have. My VIN shows that 5 repairs have been fixed if these are supposed to be fixed it didn't work. Recalls were over before I got the car so what am I supposed to do? these problems occur whether I'm stationary or moving.

- Danville, IL, USA

problem #288

Aug 262020

Passat

  • 109,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

My daughter was in an accident on Aug 26 of 2020. She was making a left hand turn when oncoming traffic struck her in passenger front bumper and fender. Her car was totaled becuase of frame damage. She estimates the other car was traveling 25-30 mph at time of impact. She was in the process of braking at impact. No airbags deployed on the VW as you can see in the pictures. All airbags deployed on other car (2013 Honda CRV). My concern is the airbag recall was performed prior to purchasing the car, yet failed to deploy. I've notified VW customer care with location of vehicle, yet they wont inspect it til I provide police report, which is very inconvenient to obtain, citing they can not obtain it. I told them where vehicle is located, or was. I fear it may be sold and cannibalized before determining why they did not deploy.

- Brussels, IL, USA

problem #287

May 302020

Passat

  • 90,000 miles
A. the engine. 1. my Volkswagen Passat 2013 tdi can not pass Massachusetts state inspection, after several times of repair the problem was tracked to emission that the repair shop was not able to fix it (alphacars & motorcycles, alphacars, 649 Massachusetts ave, boxborough, MA 01719, phone: (978) 263-9000). (dates of repairs: ~05/30/2020, ~06/29/2020) 2. dealer did three recalls and repairing for emission, charged $590 (07/31/2020). But emission issue persisted (08/27/20), and needed to be returned to dealer (08/28/20). 3. dealer intended to charge another $650 for 'diagnosis' of the emission issue (09/09/2020). 4. the diesel emission issue of this vehicle is not fixed after many repairs, when this issue can be fixed is unknown, whether it is possible to have this issue fixed is unknown. Given that this diesel emission issue comes from Volkswagen's well known software scandal on diesel emissions, and likely due to defective modification conducted later, this vehicle imposes a major risk to driver's safety. B. airbag. Every time I start the vehicle, I got warning message about the airbag, even though the vehicle is regularly maintained by Volkswagen dealer. The airbag may be defective, and imposes a major risk to driver's safety. C. the vehicle had major coolant leaking. At regular maintenance with dealer, after my complaint, the dealer found a hole and fixed it. Around middle of June, 2020, the leaking became very severe, I got warning light when driving on highway, and the engine temperature was very high and had a danger of complete shutdown.

- Stow, MA, USA

problem #286

Jul 232020

Passat

  • 59,600 miles
The driver airbag light is on. Has been on since I purchased the vehicle.

- Jonesboro, GA, USA

problem #285

Jun 172020

Passat

  • 181,305 miles
The contact owns a 2013 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the driver's air bag warning light illuminated. Heritage Volkswagen of West atlanta (1981 thornton rd, lithia springs, ga 30122, (770) 872-0033) was contacted and informed made aware of the failure. The contact was informed that the vehicle was not subjected to a recall. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 181,305.

- Atlanta, GA, USA

problem #284

Nov 222019

Passat

  • 126,000 miles
No air bag detected in the car

- Barrie, AZ, USA

problem #283

Feb 122020

Passat

  • 70,000 miles
My fiance was taking a left turn crossing a busy road during hours of dusk. Headlights were on. He was not able to see the opening of the road when turning and drove over the side walk and crashed. Front air bags deployed and windshield cracked. 3 tired popped along with other font end body damage. I had just purchased car from a dealership a few months earlier. Later I researched any recalls on my vehicle and a recall dealing with headlight issues and the headlights on my vehicle not being able to be adjusted properly, came up. If this issue was fixed before I bought the car, my fiance would have not crashed.

- Brandon, FL, USA

problem #282

Feb 242020

Passat

  • 77,665 miles
Passat was traveling South when another vehicle ran a stop sign, turned North into the southbound lane, and hit Passat on passengers side front causing car to spin and come to a stop when it hit front center into a light pole. Seatbelts did not lock, airbags did not deploy, even though all recalls had been done in September. Passat was completely totaled. Insurance adjuster and mechanics advised us that airbags should have deployed. Driver of Passat was injured due to failure of safety features.

- South Bend, IN, USA

problem #281

Oct 232019

Passat

  • miles
I took my vehicle in to VW of chattanooga in August to get the airbag recall taken care of and now my surprise my "clock spring" is now not working. I called VW of chattanooga and described that the controls on the steering wheel was not working, there is a clicking sound when turning the wheel and discussed my safety concerns. I mentioned to VW of chattanooga that I was concerned that the airbag will just blow up and he said it just will not deploy in the event of an emergency. So I'm like now what do I do, I have a vehicle I cannot drive and the last ones to mess with it was them! they asked if the airbag light came on why didn't I bring back in? I said because I have been on military orders for awhile. They also said initially it was covered under warranty and now they are saying it will cost $732 to get it fixed! I called VW care and they just said my car was out of warranty and it maybe a worksman issue but the dealership will have to work with you on that. Not to my surprise but VW of chattanooga chose not to provide any means of solution or customer service.

- Rossville, GA, USA

problem #280

Sep 132019

Passat

  • 58,600 miles
While driving the vehicle make a right turn the airbag in the steering wheel opened without impact or sudden movements. It did not break through the steering wheel casement but indicator light came on and all the functions on the steering wheel stopped working

- Biloxi, MS, USA

problem #279

Sep 202019

Passat

  • 82,000 miles
I was sold a Volkswagen Passat never was told about all the recalls it had so I had the car about 3 months and the adblue messsed up and engine wouldn't start but the day I took my car to get serviced they ignored all the lights that were on the dashboard so I took the car back and they acted like they didn't see them said they would turn off so we left and before we got home the car started smoking I called and they said they would have to look at it T see what was wrong when we just left the dealership they would not tow it or pay for a tow we took it in they fixed the fuel injector and then called and said they found another issue and ever issue they have found has al been one of the recalls and I called and told them I was worried bout mine N my kids safety cuz one of the recalls could cause a fire and I didn't want that to happen and they told me there was nothing wrong it wasn't an open recall but yet every recall is what's messing up and I called there company VW at tourney advocate for the settlement they got for these recalls and my car was included in the settlement for the recall and all the recalls got their money back or a new car and this dealership said it's not their problem I bout it with a warranty but pretty much they got paid for my piece of shot car and just sold it with a warranty I owe 26000 and had the car 3 months and the warranty is only good another 20000 miles I'm concerned about them fraudung people into buying lemons and the safety of people who get these cars

- Clayton, NM, USA

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