2015 Volkswagen Passat: sudden loss of power

Filed Feb 9, 2026 · Acceleration, Fuel system · PA

While driving on the highway my car suddenly began to stall. It lost power later after that & when I got an oil change then tried to drive it later I was stopped by another driver told something is leaking. While driving to a Autozone I noticed the gears jump while shifting from 1 to 2 and I now can’t past 20 mph. I’ve already gotten the camshaft replaced and while researching I learned my cars make and model is being recalled for everything my car is going through. The vin says it’s not eligible for any recalls. Its maintenance is unkept.

Filed Feb 5, 2026 · Engine, Fuel system · DC

The contact owns a 2015 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle sputtered intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed the vehicle and determined that fuel was leaking into the engine compartment, causing engine failure. The contact stated that the dealer had repaired the vehicle and possibly cleaned the engine. The dealer had informed the contact that the engine would last 4-6 months before complete engine failure. The vehicle was returned to the contact; however, while driving approximately 35 MPH, the vehicle sputtered and then lost power. The vehicle was restarted after several attempts to continue driving. The vehicle was returned to the dealer but was not repaired. The dealer suggested that a new vehicle be purchased. The contact searched online and became aware of the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 15V028000 (Fuel System, Gasoline); however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and confirmed that the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was unknown.

Filed Jul 7, 2025 · Electrical, Engine · PA

2015 Passat TDI sudden complete power loss while driving, including highway incidents. Vehicle stalls with no warning, creating immediate safety hazard. Symptoms match documented crankshaft position sensor failures in identical vehicles that VW has repaired under warranty for other owners. VW Customer Care closed case requiring 'duplication' of safety defect before repair. Request immediate safety investigation. I am reporting today's incident however this issue has been occuring since May 1st and occurred on numerous occasions with today being the most unsafe.

Filed Sep 18, 2023 · Engine, Fuel system · CA

After having the government approved and MANDATED Phase 1 and 2 Dieselgate fixes performed on my VW Passat TDI it has randomly lost power and or stalled while at highway speeds at least 6 times. The last time my 16 year old son was left stranded in the middle of a busy four lane highway narrowly avoiding being hit and seriously injured and/or killed. Apparently there are thousands of these cases (a class action lawsuit filed in 2018) on the road. Why haven't I been notified? This mandatory fix is much more dangerous then the original issue it seeks to address. From what I understand, the fix is causing the DPF regeneration sequence to occur much more often and much hotter, thereby cooking/melting/boiling the entire cooling system and shutting the engine down without warning. My vehicle has been in the service dept of VW for over 6 months (this last time) because they cannot figure how to fix it permanently. VW Corporate is very aware of the situation and has fed me a bunch of [XXXX] not even a child would believe and has refused my suggestion to self report the problems to NTHSA and CARB. If the cars are not taken off the road this issue will definitely (if not already) result in major injuries and likely death. I have done my duty notifying this government agency and now if a tragedy occurs there will have been actual notice as required by the law. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed May 12, 2022 · Airbags, Electrical · VA

Clockspring broke when making a turn in the drive-thru pharmacy. Loud pop, then lost all power to steering wheel. Horn does not work, none of the controls work and the airbag is not guaranteed to work. Car has been at dealership for 5 months waiting for a repair. No ETA for 5 months now....

Filed Sep 27, 2021 · Engine · MO

The oil light/message comes on, the engine burns oil excessively about 1 quart every 1,000 miles or so. Our biggest fear is that this will continue to get worse and the engine may seize up at some point due to this issue and cause a loss of power and/or a severe accident for us or anyone operating one of these VW vehicles with the same issue. VW indicated that this is "normal" but it does not seem "normal". We have never owned a vehicle (even older vehicles back in the 80s/90s) that had an issue like this, and this is a newer (2015) vehicle that we bought brand new. We had the shop look at the vehicle and they said it is burning oil and there might be a class-action against VW for it burning oil. It did not have this issue until some time after 30,000 miles which tells us that something changed in the engine at some point. With all of the burning oil, this cannot be good for air quality and the environment - not sure how many of these engines are on the road currently, but multiplied out it has to be contrary to any clean air acts that may exist in various states or at the federal level. Additionally, the oil is special "european" and is relatively expensive - the manufacturer indicates up to 10,000 miles between oil changes, so that could be up to 10 quarts of oil burning into the atmosphere (and costing money) for a single VW vehicle every few months, not to mention the safety concern if someones engine seizes up as a result causing a loss of power, loss of power steering, loss of power brakes, etc. The date shown for 'incident' is the most recent date that we had to add oil due to this issue.

Filed Jan 19, 2021 · Airbags, Electrical · 38,000 miles · AL

Steering wheel started making ticking noises around 35k miles. Roughly 36k miles the air bag error light came on. Roughly 38k miles horn and all steering wheel buttons lost power. Clock spring problem obviously. Im told this vehicle was recalled from 2010 to 2014 models. Well obviously the issue was not fixed.

Filed Oct 17, 2019 · Fuel system · 41,000 miles · IL

On two occasions, the vehicle's engine stopped working while the car was moving. The first instance, the car stalled while moving at 5mph on an expressway exit ramp. It restarted after 30 minutes (blocking traffic for that period of time). When attempting to restart, the motor would turn over, but the engine would not start - as if there was no gasoline. The second stall occurred while driving on an expressway at 55mph. In that case there was again a sudden loss of all power. However, the vehicle would not restart. The car was taken to a dealer on both occasions. The dealer replaced the batter on the first visit. On the second visit, the dealer claimed that there were fault codes related to the high pressure fuel rail that needed to be reset.

Filed Sep 14, 2019 · Electrical · 70,000 miles · FL

My dpf sensors melted while driving, almost causing me to crash as the car lost power while driving speed limit (70mph) and suddenly went down to 45mph. Dealer replaced sensors, but problem was not fixed.

Filed Sep 14, 2019 · Engine, Fuel system · 70,000 miles · FL

Car lost power while driving. Almost caused crash, as I was accelerating and sudden loss of power with cars coming. Car would not rev over 2k RPM, and took about 2 minutes to get to 45mph. Dealer diagnosed car and said high pressure fuel pump was bad. They changed that, fuel filter, and cleaned diesel tank.

Filed Sep 7, 2016 · Transmission · 36,146 miles · GA

There has been numerous of times where my car has lost power during acceleration.

Filed Jan 1, 2016 · Brakes, Engine · GA

I received a recall notice pertaining to a faulty camshaft that's lobe could shear off and disable the power braking system. Recall 23r1 agency15v705. "..could lead to a crash without warning". They also state that the replacement part will not be available until march '16 now my wife and daughter refuse to drive in the care knowing that the brakes could lose power without warning. I think this is ridiculous to allow people to continue to drive defective cars knowing a potentially serious crash could occur.