Upper control arm bushings (4 upper control arms, 2 per side) are torn and suspension has play coupled with loose steering resulting in noise.
2000 Volkswagen Passat suspension complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 36 of 36, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Upper control arms are failing and dangerous, which is leading to the tie rods failing. I am told the car is unsafe to drive. Vw quoted me $1100 to make my car safe to drive. I am puzzled that vw is unconcerned about life and safety issue for the owner and other drivers. I have seen many websites asking for owners to contact the federal safety agency about this issue.
Catastrophic failure of front end parts (tie-rods, upper links) when car had 59,000 miles on it.
(1) driving on expressway at normal highway speed while rounding curve car made a loud snapping noise and began swervinguncontrolably to the right. (2) car came to rest half on and half off of the highway, lane had to be closed and traffic jam resulted. (3) dealer said right front and rear upper control arms failed. Parts must be replaced.
Over the past couple of years I have noticed various noises coming from the front end of my vehicle. Upon inspection, no problems were noted by the service centers I took the vehcile to.*ak however, the steering control on the vehicle has suddenly gotten very bad. After taking the vehicle to a service center, they told me both of the tie-rod ends in my 2000 vw passat have failed at 100,000 miles. Both of the front wheels have a huge amount of "play" in them which leads to the car being difficult to control, especially at highway speeds. I have owned many cars and it is very unusual to have these critical parts go bad in a vehicle this early. The estimate for the repair work was well over $500. I have gotten numerous second opinions, and all have come to the same conclusion: the tie-rods are bad. All of them also tell me they have seen this failure on these vehicles before and not on any other vehicles and that it seems to be a defect in the design. As of yet, I have not had the vehcile repaired but I hope to do so soon.
The upper and lower control arms on both sides of the front of the vehical are failing. The dealer said that it was very odd to see these items faling at only 67,000 miles. If they were to completely fail it woud cause the driver to lose control of the vehical. This same failure has occured on a number of other vehicals of the same model.
Control arms on 2000 volkswagen passat are failing. The car has 55,000 miles; arms also failed at 36,000 and were replaced. This is not acceptable; I have also heard of people who had the control arms break while driving. This problem has happened to many, many owners.
Steering was making a funny noise - broght car in for service was told it was unsafe to drive it home. Had to replace all control arms (4) dealer said this was common on this vehicle. Car had 60,000 miles on it. These items should not fail so soon - cost $1600 to repair.
A noise was heard in the front end when turning the steering wheel left or right. Consumer took vehicle to the dealer, and dealer determined that upper and lower ball joints were defective. *ak
Had to replace all of the front control arms and tie rod ends on my 2000 passat glx 4-motion wagon. Five out of 8 control arms were in very poor conditions with torn boots over the ball joints. The ball joints in the controll arms were torn and ball joins were dry and noisy. The tie rod ball joins were worn out and making noises. The car has not be wrecked or damaged other wise.
It was determined that both upper and lower links on my 2000 passat had failed with 48,000 miles on the car.
At 62k miles 3 control arms/bushings and tie rod end have failed for no apparent reason. Authorized dealer's mechanic seemed surprised that this part failed so early. On the other hand, it seems like it is a well-known problem with 2000 passats (and audis which are supposed to use same parts), and the recall has already been supposedly issued for in germany. Why has it not been addressed here in the u.s. If it's a known problem and safety risk?
Front upper control arm needs replacement because ball joint is loose. This causes severe rattling when driving over even little bumps.
Arm control ball joints and bushings prematurely failed on vehicle. Ball joint failure was so severe that it could have separated from the rack and disabled steering of vehicle.
Control arms on this model are chronically failing. Every passat owner I have talked to is having a similar problem. My vehicle is only at 40000 and the control arms are starting to crack and tear. Please investigate and consider a safety recall. A control arm failure at high speed could be fatal.
Tie rod and control arms are prone to failure, I.e. Bushings become worn and will tear after time. The bushings on my vehicle for both upper control arms (currently @ 48000 miles) on both sides and tie rods have started to crack and tear.
Control arm failure leading to suspension breakdown. Second occurrence in 60000 miles. First owner. Not happy about vw's inability to claim fault for problem.
Seven of the eight control arms on my 2000 vw passat have failed. There has been a recall issued in europe for the same problem. Likewise, the audi a4 shares the same chassis and same front end suspension. Just like the vog recalled the passat aoa has recalled the a4. However voa has decided to not issue a recall and risking the passat customer base injury or even death. Why is it the exact same parts were recalled and the same chassis, but voa has not recalled the passat. The dealership has told me that it will cost 1,400.00 dollars to replace the control arms. The federal safety agency needs to question voa on this matter. My car has 40,000 miles on it and is being maintained by a volkswagen technician. There is just no reason why a part that is designed to last the life of the car has failed at 40,000 miles.
Vw will not cover the repair of the control arms and after researching the web I found that failure of the control arms are normal for this model. *ph *jb **dimsii ivoq entry posted after 12/12/02 cut over to artemis**770854
The boot covering the ball joint for the tie rod ends and both front and rear upper control arms has failed on both sides of the vehicle. The boot failing has caused the ball joint to fail causing excessive play in the wheels. This is causing the vehicle to be difficult to control and could possibly cause an accident. Volkswagen recalled the parts due to the same failure for 1998 & 1999 passats, so they should also include the 2000's. Dt
The consumer states the problem is the control arm bushings because the car creaks over bumps and when being driven around corners also when you sit down in the car it creaks.
Control arm failures are very common on this suspension design, please investigate further before there are fatalities.
There is a noise in front, underneath vehicle while wheels are in motion. Dealership is aware of problem.
Sun roof leaks - drains cleaned by dealer twice - still leaking. Driver's seat back moves forward when brake applied. Dealer claims this is normal. Seat back can be moved by hand. Car has vibration and steering wheel shakes at most speeds. Dealer claims tires are the problem. However, tires have been inspected twice (at my expense) by independent dealers who state tires are o.k. Wheels rebalanced, front end aligned, (all at my expense) and proplem persists. Vw refuses to help claiming problem is related to tires.
Dealer has failed several times to correct steering problem. Car has constant vibration and steering wheel shake on turns. Front end aligned (not needed) wheels balanced and rotated (at my expense) without problem correction. Sunroof leaks. Driver's power seat moves when coming to a full stop. Dealer states this is ok
Control arm failure is common among vw passats. Please do something about this potentially life threatening problem.
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