2010 Volkswagen Passat: engine stalls while driving

Filed Mar 14, 2026 · Electrical, Fuel system · FL

My 2010 Volkswagen CC became completely inoperable because of the active fuel pump control module recall (the federal safety agency 17V509). The vehicle stalled and nearly caused an accident. The check engine light came on just before I noticed a burning smell coming from the backseat of my car immediately after smelling that the car suddenly stalled out in the middle of a busy intersection and the engine would not start back up. I had to push it to a gas station parking lot across 3 lanes of traffic. I lifted up the backseat and found that the fuel control module was overheated and melting on top of the fuel pump so I carefully and properly disconnected it from the vehicle. The next day I had the vehicle towed to Lokey Volkswagen in Clearwater, FL. Today 3/14/2026 They did the recall repair and told me my vehicle is safe to drive. Today 3/14/2026 I drove the car 1 mile from the dealership when the exact same thing happened again the car stalled out, and I had to carefully maneuver to the shoulder of hwy us 19 s narrowly missing vehicles in the other lanes. The vehicle was then towed back to lokey Volkswagen. It is pretty clear that the issue was not resolved, and that this fuel control module failing may have affected other parts of the fuel system/wiring and or the fuel control module failed again. I have pictures of the fuel control module, and I gave the initial melted/failed fuel control module to the service department and they took it. The dealership service department is stating that this may be to do something other than the recall repair and that I may be liable for the diagnostic and towing charges. This is a very serious safety issue that almost cost me to get in accidents on the highway twice. I feel that they (Volkswagen) needs to be held responsible for rectification and to find out if there is a connection between this recall and the continuing failure of the vehicle to operate safely.

Filed Oct 23, 2024 · Engine, Steering · CA

I purchased a used vehicle but have found out the oxygen sensor is feeding false error codes to the main OBC causing leaks into driver compartment causing engine to stall while auto in motion and most importantly causing steering wheel to lock, have spoken with VWoA but they have no direct influence with VW or dealerships even if a warranty issue because all parties are independent contractors and all they are able to do is try and help. My name has not been transferred to registration because of smog requirements so you may call me [XXX] my telephone number is [XXX] my case# with VWoA is [XXX], I myself have learned to deal with defects but should this matter be more widespread which I cannot find out because the last case regarding the sensors was sealed in an agreement made by the California ARB, EPA and VW and Audi through a settlement signed in December 2021. Once again my hands are tied from taking much more action but I believe your department whether is able to enforce this matter or not should at least investigate and issue warnings to advise people of what can happen so if they can even at own cost seek appropriate repairs before more damages accrued. Also if this sensor is effecting more models and manufacturers an appropriate temporary fix should be seeker since no long term solutions are available at this time INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Jan 24, 2023 · Fuel system · FL

I was in my car driving , as soon as I go for a turn my car stalled on me infront of everyone , almost causing a wreck.

Filed Apr 30, 2020 · Fuel system · 129,000 miles · MA · fire

Tl* the contact owned a 2010 volkswagen passat. The contact stated when driving at approximately 25-30 MPH the engine stalled. The contact stated that the fire emitted from under the hood and within a moment the engine was on fire. The quincy fire department was present and was able to extinguish the fire. The contact stated that the fire department advised that the fire started in the fuel line. The vehicle was towed. The contact's insurance company destroyed the vehicle. The manufacturer was contacted and advised that the vehicle was not included in the federal safety agency campaign number: 17v509000 (fuel system, gasoline). The failure mileage was 129,000.

Filed Jan 23, 2020 · Electrical, Steering · 99,900 miles · IL

Vehicle lost power and shut off while driving on the street at approximately 20 MPH. I had driven about 1 block on this street after having turned onto it from another street. When the car died, "steering wheel locked" displayed on dash panel. Car would not start, steering wheel wouldn't move beyond about 1" to the right. Message would display "steering wheel still locked" or "move steering wheel." after 40 minutes of this rotation of messages and trying to start the vehicle, moved the steering wheel up and down. Car finally started but only for 3 seconds. Battery light would come on. Was able to start the car several times doing this and moving it 30 feet to safely park on the side of the road. Temperature outside was about 30 degrees f. For about 1 month prior to this, I would periodically hear a ticking sound after removing the key from the ignition. After the ticking stopped, a message would display on the dash panel "steering column locked. Visit workshop!" it was extremely cold when this happened, but it didn't happen every time I turned off the car, and the car started fine each time after. Outside temp was in the teens (f) when this typically happened.

Filed Oct 5, 2019 · Engine, Transmission · 63,000 miles · CA

I have owned this car for beraly one month. 2 days after purchasing the 02 sensors went bad. 1 week later my pcv valve went bad. And 2 days after that my car stalled on me while driving down a canyon and would not start again. I lost control and ended up on the side of the road. I though I was going to kill myself. After sitting there for about an hour the car turned on but was extremely shaky and would stall the minute I slowed down or came to a stop. I managed to get the car to a repair shop only to have the engine die on me. The car cannot be turned on or moved. I was told it might be the timing chain which is a common issue in this engine. I'm being told I need to practically replace the engine which will cost more than what the car is worth. If I try to turn the car on. It hesitates a lot and once it turns over it immediately shuts off. I have beraly made 1 payment on this vehicle and it already died on me. Was excited about such a nice looking car only to have fall under the lemon car category in my opinion. I am now left with a car payment. A huge repair bill and no mode of transportation all due to volkswagens faulty design.

Filed Mar 3, 2019 · Fuel system · 74,500 miles · FL

02/03 car stall due to defective fuel pump module 02/04 car sent to dealership to perform recall - dealersip advisor confirm recall has been done 02/05 car stalls again - advisor confirm fuel pump module is new and has been replaced - car sent back to dealership upon request of advisor for further investigations 02/06 advisor states thank fuel pump assembly needs to be changed - cost for repairs is $1120 + tax - repair is declined - car is picked up and brought back home 02/07 purchase new thank fuel pump assembly 02/13 new thank fuel pump assembly delivered to my home 02/14 car is sent to repair shop why go to the dealer for evaluation - new thank fuel pump assembly is installed - repair shop confirms fuel pump module has never been replaced - dealership provide apparently new fuel pump module to repair shop go to the dealer - repair shop install new fuel pump module as recommended per recall - car is picked up at the dealership 02/24 car not able to start due to drained battery, faulty fuel pump module 02/25 complain is sent by email to dealership shop foreman frank marcello - no follow up 03/01 car not starting due to drained battery - call shop foreman and left message

Filed Aug 23, 2018 · Acceleration, Engine · 111,000 miles · CA

Car stalled and stopped from full motion to reduced speed.

Filed Apr 17, 2018 · Fuel system · FL

While driving the vehicle numerous times at various speeds including idling at stop lights/signs, it would sputter as if to shut down and stall. Sometimes, I could "gas" it so it didn't stall, sometimes it would stall. It happened at busy intersections of a stop light and proved to be dangerous when stalling trying to accelerate when light turned green. It sputtered numerous times in third gear, 50ish MPH, as if to stall and was very unerving worried it didn't stall in flowing traffic. It finally stopped running and was towed to volkswagon dealership where I hoped they would repair recall, 20ae. Instead, they diagnosed other issues totaling thousands of dollars that I can't afford. I am hoping to have recall fixed before other diagnoses and see if that was the problem. Thank you

Filed Mar 29, 2018 · Fuel system · 120,000 miles · FL

Tl* the contact owns a 2010 volkswagen passat. The contact stated that while driving approximately 3 MPH, the vehicle stalled and the instrumental panel illuminated. The vehicle was pushed into a parking lot but did not restart. The vehicle was towed to the volkswagen of panama city dealer (850‑763‑5495, located at 3605 e 15th st, panama city, fl 32404) where the technician stated that the high pressure fuel pump was faulty and was not covered by the recall. The contact received notification of the federal safety agency campaign number: 17v509000 (fuel system, gasoline). The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and would look into the matter. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was about 120,000. Vin tool confirms parts not available.

Filed Jul 28, 2015 · Fuel system · 93,525 miles · SC

My car stalled as I was starting to accelerate through a busy intersection on the way to work and caused an oncoming car to lock up his tires and swerved to avoid hitting me. The car would restart but not run enough to clear intersection for 10-12 attempts. After clearing intersection I was able to park car and leave it for rest of day. When returning to car it started and ran fine on the way home from work. I continued to drive the car for next 2 days with same failures happening only 1 time a day but not at same time or place with no warning or check engine light. On 3rd day a check engine light occurred and upon reading with obd ii computer is was p2293 fuel pressure regulator 2 performance error. I have since taken the vehicle to the vw shop and they are stating I have a bad electric fuel pump issue in the tank and need to replace it along with the control module at a cost of $900. In addition they are saying my rear main engine seal needs to be replace at a cost of $1600 although not related to stalling issue. They fuel pump I have found very similar issues described on internet with similar years and it is a safety issue. It should be a warranty recall not a user responsible issue. I work for a large global automotive supplier to and no that this failure not acceptable for vw and definitely should not be for its consumers. I called vw customer care and they said they will not do anything for the cost of either repair since it is out of warranty. This will likely be the last vw I will every purchase.

Filed Apr 11, 2015 · Engine · 52,870 miles · TN

While driving my 2010 vw passet with 52870 miles on it at about 35 MPH, it started misfiring, smoking (white smoke) and it stalled. I had enough momentum to coast to the side of the road, luckily avoiding an accident. It would't start so I called my ins. Co.'s emergency tow service and had it towed to the vw dealership.this was friday evening. I was without my car until wednesday afternoon. On saturday I searched technical bulletins, articles and vw forums to find out what had happened. Apparently my car's 2.0t engine has a propensity to consume oil and to have a lot of carbon buildup which causes failure of the coil packs, fuel injectors and spark plugs which result in the vehicle suddenly faltering and stalling out. On tuesday I was told by a vw technician that my fuel injector had failed. That evening I was told a second fuel injector failed. Wednesday I was told the car was ready to be picked up. The technician told me that vw was aware of a problem (I'm not quite sure how he worded it - but he mentioned carbon buildup as the cause) and the fuel injectors were under an extended warranty so no charge for the injectors but I would be charged $465.00 in related costs plus I would need another oil change in 500 miles to flush the engine (another $80.00). I asked about the likelihood of the other two injectors failing and perhaps causing me to crash my car. He said that if I had more carbon buildu, it could happen again. My car recently had its 50k maintance. If vw was aware of the carbon buildup dangers, they should have done a carbon clean-out at that time or at least offered/advised me to have it done. It only costs $169.79 and I would have had a safer vehicle. I thought I had reliable transportation. I was not aware of the carbon danger but vw was and they should tell owners about the vw 2.0t engine's potential problem before someone is killed!