2013 Volkswagen Passat: sudden loss of power

Filed Mar 17, 2025 · Acceleration, Engine · TN

I was on top of Beech Mountain NC working at a customer's house when it started to snow. I was at the bottom of their driveway and when I attempted to drive out, the traction control light would turn on, indicating I was losing traction. When this happened, I was unable to accelerate any more and the car started sliding backwards. So sitting in the car in the snow, I pulled up YouTube to figure out the "procedure" to disable traction control so I could get more speed. Turn the car off, ignition on, activate the flashers, push the brake pedal multiple times, then start the car. Traction control disabled, so "simple"! The only problem is once the car starts moving traction control gets enabled again and I'm sliding backwards again! Extremely dangerous on a mountain! Eventually I was able to clear the snow enough and just hold down the accelerator to power out. So now my GPS is telling me I have to drive up a hill to get off the mountain. Same problem: I start up the hill, traction control kicks on and I lose ALL power and begin to slide backwards! Luckily I am a good driver because I was able to control the slide and do a 180 in the middle of the road. So my GPS tries to reroute me and sends me up a different hill! Same exact result! I eventually had to just ignore my GPS entirely and just manually look for a road that was heading down hill. I thought for sure I was either going to wreck because of the traction control or be stuck up there in a snow storm! Not having the option to disable traction control and leave it off so that I could get uphill us very unsafe! The worst part is I didn't even realize my car didn't have the option to disable traction control until I was already stuck! If I'd known that, I would have taken my truck.

Filed Jul 6, 2024 · Fuel system · WA

On [XXX] at 6 a.m. I was commuting NB on [XXX] , when engine lost power on 5 lane highway after driving over rough patch of road (~1 mile S of [XXX]). I barely got car onto right shoulder from middle lane when car shut off. Glow plug pigtails warning light came on right as I experienced significant decrease in engine power. AAA towed car to VW Dealer. Diagnostic performed on 7/5. I was informed of catastrophic failure of fuel pump, metal had gotten into fuel lines and tore up. My entire fuel system needs to be replaced. Dealer quoted $7K to repair. Car had never displayed signs of fuel issues. Car is well maintained and gets regular service at dealer. Upon investigation, I see VW had several years with high pressure fuel pumps failing. This needs to investigated/addressed as these failures are still occurring in cars that are 2013 and newer. I have requested dealer to send me pdf of repair estimate. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Mar 30, 2023 · Transmission · DE

DSG transmission, yes it’s available for inspection. The vehicle lost power and it wouldn’t go any faster for a few minutes when accelerated. I’m talking it for inspection on 03/31/2023. No inspection yet. This problem has never happened before. This happened on March 29th, 2023. The transmission light came on and it said to park the vehicle and let the transmission cool because it was over heating. I parked it for a while and when I started it back up the light went out. I called the dealer and he said to bring it in but don’t drive it hard. My vehicle is a Volkswagen CC r line but on your website it’s showing a picture of a Volkswagen Passat with my vin number.

Filed Jun 18, 2020 · Engine, Fuel system · 53,000 miles · CA

The car has coolant issues, had power steering system replaced, now there's a gas leak, replaced gas cap loss of power suspension is horrible now everytime I refuel the car struggles to turn on.

Filed Apr 26, 2019 · 80,000 miles · FL

Has a problem with the fuel system, I have the diesel engine and when the glow plugs starts flashing you can feel the loss of power and takes several seconds to get up to speed, read online that it's an ongoing issue for several people.

Filed Aug 4, 2018 · Driver assistance, Engine · 20,000 miles · KS

Pulling out of driveway epc light comes on. Total loss of power and engine speed set to 1800rpm in "safe mode" no one knows exactly what is wrong. Mechanics cannot ttell me what is wrong. Dealership vw has no idea and want to start replacing items in descriminately and I don't have that kind of money to throw around and besides. The people that built the car can't figure it out. This is a huge safety issue. Computer faults and shuts down the power at hiway speeds and sometimes car stalls out. This is very dangerous and happening to hundreds maybe thousands of people I'm reading online and talking with other owners.

Filed Apr 8, 2018 · Engine · GA

Car would make whirling sounds intermittently, difficulty going up hill, rough idle sometimes, car shut off while driving, car shut off while idling at a light, car had difficulty starting or would start then shake and let out loud and hard bursts of gas from exhaust and cut off, car will start up then lose power, sometimes will start back up. One time it took 3 tries and would not start. Had at vw dealer multiple times since jam 2017 till now. Happened again today after I got gas, shut off then took a while to gain power and epc and check engine light were on then disappeared. Every other time the wngine light would disappear. The last time in march they had the car 10 or so day. Two days later it idled rough. They were busy to check the car now this. Jan 2017 check engine light they said fault p0106/p2188- did software update and advises faults may come back. Feb 2017 engine light they said same faults and manifold pressure sensor failed. Got replaced. March 2017 car stalled in traffic multiple times. They cleaned throttle body. March 2017 in idle car shaking and shut off rpms up and down replaced camshaft position sensor. May 2017 shut off in traffic- replaced n80 valve. 05/05/18 got spark plugs changed. March 7 car shut off three times after getting gas. They had it till march 19 said charcoal canister need replacing then upon pick up said n205 valve cam adjuster solenoid clicking loudly. March 29 noticed hearing whirling sounds and rough idle. Called ealer no one available over weekend. Busy. Today 04/08 car shut off after 2nd gas fill up. Started back slowly epc and engine light steady then it gained power and lights off. Vw corporare advised in 2017 I am out of warranty and have high mileage. Opened claim again today they said same thing but will see if the corporate would be willing to offer assistance. All work has been done via vw dealers

Filed Nov 15, 2016 · Engine, Fuel system · 70,000 miles · TX

Driving down the expressway at 70mph, when suddenly the vehicle lost power and turned off. The car stopped functioning. It was a dangerous situation. Had to suddenly pulled over on a very busy highway. When the vehicle came to a stop, I tried to restart the vehicle with no success. Car was towed to the dealership. I was informed that it was a failure of the high pressure fuel pump (hpfp). Was told the entire fuel system would have to be replaced. Approximate cost to repair: $5826.09. I know they extended the warranty on the hpfp for the 2012 passat. What about the 2013?

Filed Sep 27, 2016 · Fuel system · 110,000 miles · OR

156 miles into a 200 mile trip the vehicle lost power climbing a grade on a highway. At first it felt like the road was washboarded but after changing lanes the 'washboard' feeling remained and I thought it was a flat tire. Within a few seconds of changing lanes the vehicle lost power - 60mph to 30mph in a second. I pulled off the road, vehicle was still running but had very little power to move forward. Had vehicle towed to nearest vw dealership. Was informed the hpfp had failed due to metal shaving in the system. Pump, rails and injectors need to be replaced. Vehicle has 110k miles on it. At 80k I had one of the injectors replaced at a vw dealership - car was having symptoms of power lag and intermittent 'washboard road' feeling when accelerating. Was told at that time the injector 'just went bad, happens sometimes' - now I am sure the system was going bad and should have been addressed before it became catastrophic. Not covered by vw, $5k repair.

Filed Sep 16, 2016 · Fuel system · 70,000 miles · TN

On sept 14, 2016, while driving, my car began losing power, glow-plug indicator light started flashing, and then the car immediately stalled. From first sign of trouble to complete power loss was less than 60 seconds. Scary stuff when your on the highway. Had to be towed to the vw dealer. After I explained how the car had lost power and shut off, the service department suspected it was a high pressure pump failure. The next day, the service technician confirmed that it was a "high-pressure fuel pump failure". Basically the fuel pump exploded, sending metal fragments through the entire fuel and fuel injector systems. Not good news! The vw tech tested the fuel in the tank and confirmed that it was 100% diesel fuel. The vw service advisor indicated that this was a known issue with the tdi's since 2009. The vw tech indicated that the car would never run again unless the whole fuel systems is replaced, and the cost for this would be around $6,500. Vw tech and vw customer service indicated this is a known issue and that they have addressed the issue with 2009 - 2012 tdi's by extending the warranty. Unfortunately I have a 2013 and had no clue these pumps were failing on older models. This is a serious and very dangerous issue not to mention a costly malfunction that can and most likely will happen to other 2013 tdi owner's. I'm glad it was not my wife who was driving when the engine stalled.

Filed Sep 14, 2016 · Fuel system · 70,000 miles · CA

While waiting for the buy-back through the class action fraud settlement, last saturday, sept. 10, 2016 my 2013 passat tdi with approximately 70k miles shuddered and lost all power. I was able to pull to the side of the road and then had it towed to the vw dealer. They have informed me that the high pressure fuel pump failed and spewed metal fragments throughout the entire fuel system. The repair cost quoted is $6581.44. It does not appear that I am the only person suffering this catastrophic failure around the 70k mile mark. In fact, even the dealer's service manager for vacaville volkswagen, jennifer pirani, stated she is aware of this as a problem with this year and model passat and she also owns a 2013 pasatt tdi with similar mileage and is trying not to drive her's so she can make it through the buy-back. It would appear this is a defective part with a serious design flaw causing excessive damage at a great repair cost.

Filed Jul 24, 2016 · Fuel system · 24,500 miles · CA

On my 2013 vw passat tdi, the glow plug light started to flash when driving car on 40mph road, the vehicle lost power (went into limp mode), but was able to get the vehicle home. Fault codes pulled were p0087(fuel rail / system pressure low). Later diagnosed as a failed high pressure fuel pump. After some quick research, I found this was a common problem among vw common rail tdi engines. (this will be a $5000 - $7000 dealer repair)