2000 Volkswagen Passat: ball joint or control arm failure

Filed May 5, 2009 · Suspension · 150,000 miles · CA

Creaking, groaning, clunking, squeaking out of the front end, most notably at low speeds over broken pavement, speedbumps, coming to a slow stop and pulling away slowly from a stop. Control arms issue.

Filed Sep 15, 2008 · Body, Suspension · 116,000 miles · WV

The control arms in my 2000 vw passat need to be replaced. I believe that this is a design defect. Control arms should not fail after only 116,000 miles.

Filed Jul 3, 2008 · Electrical, Fuel system · 80,000 miles · MD · fire

Heat shield caught fire while driving down the road. I had bought the car from carmax who had lied about the auto from the broken seatbelts forward on the day of sale. Vw dealership repaired auto after fire but another mishap with heatshield when it fell off and under the passenger front tire @ 65 mile per hr, while driving down turnpike. I was not injured thanks to a truck driver who assisted my navigation to the side of the road and cut off the shield so I could return home. The tie rod was damaged and had to be replaced, since the fire the car has never been the same and has been a hazard, stalling on a beltway, etc... No apparent reason for this was found on a diagnostic machine as it has been checked several times..it is when the emission light comes on and a bad sensor needs replaced or switch. But nothing fixes this car for long.

Filed Mar 28, 2007 · Brakes, Engine · 82,500 miles · CO

Purchased my 2000 passat in 2003, had numerous problems since. It seemed like everything on the car had to be replaced. The control arms, o2 sensors, twice, belts, stereo didn't turn on, all new hoses right away, all 4 window regulators, and now to top it all off, the ABS lights kept coming on. My husband has a 2000 audi a4, virtually the same car, and had to replace all of the same things. The ABS seemed to work fine, but the dealer said it would be $1800 to fix it. I looked at some online forums and found thousands of people with similar problems. The manufacturer, (bosch or volkswagen, should do something about this. My car has been parked since august 2006 because I don't have money to fix it! I am college student. Help!

Filed Jul 5, 2006 · Steering · 80,000 miles · IL

Steering tie rods and front suspension are worn out on vw passat making steering very inaccurate and in a state of constant steering input to maintain straight direction of vehicle. Afraid this will lead to an accident. Car has only 82,000 miles on it and this is the first time I have ever heard of such complete impending failure of a front suspension. I understand that this is common in passats. It seems to me this is a design flaw that should be corrected.

Filed Jun 14, 2006 · Brakes, Electrical · 50,000 miles · UT · 1 injury

9/2003: headlights aimed incorrectly; road wasn't illuminated. Within 2 wks, 1 of the bulbs burned out. Within a week of the 1st, the 2nd bulb burned out. Cost to have headlights repositioned & bulbs replaced: $267. 9/2003: rear tail light out. Cost to have bulb replaced by mechanic: $32.50. 11/2003: both rear windows off track. Cost to tear doors apart & fix: $159.75. 12/2003: electrical problems with front power windows. Never know if window will go up or down. 2004: had car in for (at least) 3 different dashboard warning codes. One had something to do with fuel, or the fuel tank or something. After some trial and error on my mechanic's part, discovered that unscrewing and tightly rescrewing gas cap fixed the problem. Cost to diagnose and "fix": $165. Had (at least) two other warning codes in 2004 that required me to take the car in. 6/24/2005: had been hearing crunching sound from front right portion of car that was particularly apparent when hitting a pothole, a dip in the road or attempting a tight 360 turn. Mechanic (specializing in european cars) identified a bad control arm. Cost of repair & alignment: $713.70. Cost of rental car: $100.88. Total: $814.58. Note: the left side has been making the same sound since 12/2005. Have not yet repaired it. 10/24/05: car started going dead intermittently. The car had less than 60000 miles on it. Replaced battery for $106.50. 1/2006: temp gauge maxed out, coolant boiled over, smoke & steam issued from hood in less than 8 minutes at idle. Cooled car for 2l hours, replaced coolant and drove to mechanic, who replaced thermostat, water pump & timing belt. Cost: $725. 2/2006: brakes are spongy and provide no resistance until nearing the floor. Mechanic says rotors and brake pads are fine. 6/2006: transmission gets stuck in 1st gear. Must stop the car, turn it off and then restart. This is an electrical problem and is governed by the computer. Cost to fix: unknown. 6/2006: front window now off track. Have not yet fixed it.

Filed Feb 11, 2006 · Brakes, Steering · TX

My 2000 vw passat with 60,000 miles has 2 serious and expensive problems first one was when I noticed a loud popping noise on bumps and steering was very unstable on bumps. Took it to a shop and they told me it was the control arms and tie rod ends and that both were dealer items. So upon going to the dealer they told me they needed $90 dollars before they could even look @ it. So I said no but how much are the parts and turns out there more than $500 dollars. Three weeks later my ABS light and asr light comes on and it reads in the middle of the dash to stop! Brake fault so reading this with my family in the car I immediately pull over find out where the nearest vw dealer is and ask them to inspect the problem. Well that was easier said than done first they wanted the $90 dollars again before they would look at it and since I didn't have the money there was nothing they could do! Nothing they can do!! That's crazy!! After arguing with them on why they don't want to look at it but it could cause a serious accident they said there's no immediate problem its ok to drive but it could be the ABS module or the dash cluster its self. So I asked the price ABS $1200 dollars new dash over $700 and that's not including labor.. So sorry to say but vw lost a customer with me and my family and friends. The car is just to new for this type of stuff to happen there should be a recall on this because I know im not the only one. And just to add, my old car which I have to drive now since I don't have the money to fix the problems with the vw is a honda prelude with 185,000 miles and still no problems.

Filed Nov 22, 2005 · Suspension · 63,011 miles · KY

Dt: the contact was complaining about a front suspension control arm:lower arm problem. The rubber boot prematurely wore out. He received a special service action for this problem in november 2004 from the manufacturer. He took the vehicle to local dealer for repairs. Later, while he was inspecting the vehicle, he discovered the defective part had not been replaced. When he contacted the dealer, they were no longer willing to offer a free remedy under this special service campaign. The vehicle has not been repaired at this time.

Filed Nov 15, 2005 · Steering · 95,000 miles · IA

Premature tie rod failure. Left and right tie rod ends are prematurely worn resulting in the passenger side tie rod in breaking, parts need to repair damage, left and right tie rod assembly, ball joints, 1/2 shafts. Estimated repair cost $1678.

Filed Aug 9, 2005 · Steering · 37,000 miles · NC

My 2000 vw passat, with 38,000 miles, has worn tie rods to the point where I have been advised it could be dangerous to drive. This problem was discovered when the car was having an oil change and I mentioned I had been hearing creaking sounds from the front while doing 3 point turns over the past month. My mechanic (not a dealer) thought there had been a recall for the problem. Upon checking, the recall was for 1999 passats only. Since the 2000 model is the exactly the same as the 1999 model, why was this recall not extended to the 2000 cars? I now have to replace the tie rods at my own expense. Please note the service action issued by vw in november 2004 did not include the tie rods.

Filed Aug 8, 2005 · Suspension · 65,000 miles · MD

I have owned this vehicle for a little over a year. During this time this passat has had several suspension problems. The upper control arms have been pointed out as a problem by various service centers and vw. The control arms have been replaced twice and the passat has again developed a loud squeaking noise from the front end of the vehicle.

Filed Jun 13, 2005 · Brakes · 76,000 miles · NJ

Abs control unit fails, failure of upper control arms