In below freezing weather, I was trying to leave my child's daycare. When the key is inserted properly into the ignition, the car beeps and presents a warning "steering column lock defective!" it would not start for 45 minutes - just kept turning over and immediately dieing (lost spark, presumably, as part of the immobilization system). Took it to the dealership and they immediately recognized the problem and joking sarcastically implying that this happens all the time - the stalling at startup is a direct result of the steering column lock problem. The entire steering column has to be replaced along with a new control module (around $200 in parts) along with 4 hours of labor (quoted around $375 for me). This problem is widely reported on passat message boards with initial costs being as high as $1,900 until vw of america recently discovered a more cost effective way to fix the issue. Also, vw of ireland has acknowledged this as a software defect (see irish times article from 11/4/2009 entitled "staring problems with a vw passat"). There are reports that vw of canada are repairing this for free on out of warrantied vehicles as well. How many have to fail in america before it's a recall? Wouldn't a computer fault keeping a car from starting be a safety issue? What happens if the module fails while driving - either the car determining the key isn't correct would stop the engine, or if the steering column does lock while driving at highway speeds?
2007 Volkswagen Passat steering complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 15 of 15, newest first, as owners wrote them.
2007 vw passat "steering column defected". My key "fob" to the ignition gets stuck inside the ignition slot. Car will not start. Sometimes it will start but then immediately die. I have to very slowly push the fob back and forth to finally get the car to start eventually. Problem is, there are thousands other 2006-2007 vw passats and jettas that have this issue. It is unsafe. The vw dealer is charging on average $1,400 to replace the defective parts.
We own a 2007 volkswagen passat. On june the 15th, 2010, we started getting an alarm indicator saying that "the steering column was locked" and the car would not start. We took it to our local vw dealership, where we were told that it is a national problem, and the parts to fix it are on "national backorder" with no idea when they will be available. I am concerned that this problem will either leave my wife stranded someplace unsafe, or, the problem will occur while she is driving and affect her ability to steer the vehicle. I would like to know if your agency has received other complaints, and are you able to assist in expediting repairs? [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).
I have a 2007 volkswagen passat and the steering column lock is now defective and the car wont start the car only has 53000 miles and it has only been out of warranty three thousand miles and this is a very costly repair about two thousand quoted by the dealer. Dealer also said that they could not fix the problem and that they had seen a few cars with this same problem.
When under 5mph the car will stall or it will not start. It sometimes runs me late for an event due to it will not start. I'm not sure why it does it I've not noticed the pattern yet. The lcd screen will read defective steering column. I've called vw and they will not replace after warranty expires and they want nearly 3k to replace the product of the entire steering column and immobilizer.
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