The backup camera in this vehicle frequently fails to activate when the vehicle is placed in reverse. Vw officials acknowledge, in a written response, a delay time of one (1) to two (2) minutes before the camera will activate. It is an unreasonable expectation, from a consumer / driver standpoint, to wait 1 to 2 minutes for a camera to activate for a driver to determine if it is safe to backup. Vw continues to ignore this deficiency despite the number of deaths and injuries each year caused by backup accidents.
2013 Volkswagen Passat driver assistance complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 15 of 15, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Backup camera is slow to start. May take from 5 to 20 seconds to become operational after start up. This is hazard with respect to reliance on backup cameras by drivers to see obstructions behind the car. Failure of camera to start up quickly results in reduced safety because drivers will back up without camera operational. I can start my car and back out of driveway and reach the corner of my block before the camera starts up and shows me the road disappearing behind me. A camera does not replace driver obligations to make sure that obstructions are not behind their car, but the camera is also there to be a safety feature and it is not reliable as a safety feature do to its extremely slow start up. Individuals do not like to wait 30 seconds at a stop light much less 20 just to back out of their driveway. This is a design or manufacturing issue that should be corrected to ensure that the backup camera is a reliable safety feature as it was intended.
Our new 2013 tdi passat, from day one has had the issue of intermittently dragging, pulling crunching noise coasting through a corner in the front left wheel. It varies from a soft tug and crunch noise, to so hard it pulls you into oncoming traffic! It seems to be while maintaining speed or coasting, never while braking. After about 3-4th time into the service department and everything checking out fine, we finally got them to come up and ride with me on our road. (we do live on a mountain road that is a posted 55mph with some 40mph curves) the car did it and the service manager said, "hmmm." he said its their top of the line car and thinks its the stability control system. I asked if it was only in the front left wheel? He said "no." I asked how come it drags and pulls the front left no matter if it's a left or right turn, and is it supposed to do it so hard some times that it pulls you into oncoming traffic? He said "no."he said it sounds like a systems issue because we have known other people that have taken their tdi's in for this exact same issue so it's not just a sensor in this particular car. We called 3 days later to see if they had a resolve and they said the car is "fine and functioning normal, that I took the corner 8 MPH too fast and the car did it's job"!! I am concerned for my family's safety as we have stated numerous times and given them every opportunity to address this and yet to no avail. This car does this everyday. It's not normal to say to your spouse that if I'm involved in an accident on our road, especially a head-on, it was the front left wheel that did it. These cars have a safety defect in this system and I want everyone to know. I don't know where to go from here.
As many others have stated on this site and all over the internet, the back-up camera is ridiculously slow to come on. Most times, I can back out of my driveway, stop, and be going forward down the street before the back-up camera even comes on. At that point, I'm driving up to a block away with my back-up camera still on. While most of the time this is simply an annoying inconvenience, it is also a very real safety issue. One of the reasons I buy cars with back-up cameras is to make sure I'm able to see anything small (like a child, bike, etc.) behind the car while backing that my mirrors won't show. My lexus also has this camera (as did my prius that I traded for the passat) and it came on within one second of putting the car in reverse. The passat is routinely taking 6-8 seconds, and has taken as long as 15 seconds to turn on. I've noticed that it is not just the camera that is slow. Many of the other functions of the touch screen are also slow to react. The vw dealer I bought the car from says that vw is aware of the issue but it is simply a slow processor so there is nothing they can do about it.
The backup camera is very slow to respond when placing the vehicle into reverse (15-25 seconds). Frequently, the camera will not activate until the vehicle has completed backing up and the vehicle is placed into drive. Volkswagen is aware of the issue, having identified it in a vw technical bulletin. I contacted volkswagen customer care in auburn, mi, about resolving the issue. I received a letter from[xxx], dated 22 april 2013, which stated: ". . . Your vehicle is operating as per its designed intent. As such, we will not be able to make a repair to [the] system." information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr updated 05/05/14.
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