Car missing a getting bad milage...same car does not run well and caught fire by turbo 2003 Passat VW 1.8 liter turbo.

- Arlington, TX, USA

The heater core tubing in the car disintegrated at about 18,000 miles. This resulted in the check engine light appearing, coolant leaking into other parts of the engine department, and the fumes from the coolant in the passenger compartment. At this time the vehicle was under warranty, so I took it to the Volkswagen dealership. They replaced the purge valve (about an hours work) and returned the car to me. I took the car back two more times for the same problem before the warranty ran out and the dealership performed the same service. The coolant leak became significantly worse (I began adding coolant every 3-4 days) at around 82,000 miles and the fumes from the coolant in the passenger compartment became very strong. I took the car to another repair shop and the mechanic discovered that the tubing from the heater core had completely disintegrated and the heater core needed to be replaced altogether. I have seasonal asthma associated with allergies and inhaling the fumes from the coolant has made the condition worse. I am currently having the vehicle repaired at a cost of approximately $1200.

- Austin, TX, USA

Sun roof drain disconects and water fills passenger compartment causing computer malfunction, air bags to malfunction and fire hazzard. This is the second time 1st time in 2006

- Maynard, MA, USA

This car was never inspected for recalls, or safety issues. The moment the car was handed to us the battery died. The dealership quickly change the battery. The car was hesitating on acceleration ever since. It was on July 27 2008 that finally the check engine light came on. Took the car to a garage and it has coast us 270 dollars to fix it so far. We have not had this car for more than a month. There are two recalls on this car that were never look at or fixed by precision Toyota of tucson. One of these recalls can cause fire.

- Tucson, AZ, USA

The contact owns a 2003 Volkswagen Passat. The contact noticed that the radio was malfunctioning. He took the vehicle to the dealer and a technician stated that the stereo failed due to unknown causes, and the entire system needed to be replaced. The contact has not had the vehicle repaired because it exceeded its warranty. The manufacturer did not provide any assistance. The failure mileage was 95,000 and current mileage was 109,000.

- Toldeo, OH, USA

New '03 Passat purchased in Dec. '02. Feb. '03 I noticed difficulty with steering when the wheel was turned to the extreme left or right. After several trips to the dealership in which power steering fluid was found to be low and refilled, it was determined that the power steering rack needed to be replaced. In Mar '03, the power steering rack was replaced by Volkswagen under warranty. Nov. '04, I again noticed difficulty with the steering in extreme left or right wheel positions. Dec. '04, VW determines that the power steering rack again needs to be replaced. They claim that there is no larger problem with the car leading to repeated failure of the power steering rack. Likewise, they insist that there is no intrinsic problem with VW power steering racks. However, I find it difficult to believe that two power steering racks from VW placed in the same car in a two year period just happened to be faulty.

- Trumbull, CT, USA

The ignition coils on my 2002 VW Passat 1.8T ar about to fail for the third time. The car was bought in may of 2002. The first incident occured in December, the second in January, and now it is about to happen again now in February. Each incident is preluded by a slight jolt in the car upon start up followed bu rough idleing. Every time we take it and and are told it is fixed and then sure enough a month later I am back there again. I do not see this problem getting any better. In addition the mach rstereo system has been fixed, then replaced. The replacement unit's qulaity is poor in comparison to the original. This car has been a nightmare.

- Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Starter coil failure - for over a month the problem would appear and disappear. Sounded almost like the muffler fell off, but would be accompanied by loss of power to the vehicle. Unexplainable as to why this happened.

- Glens Falls, NY, USA

I recently leased a VW passatt station wagon and things have gone wrong with it even before the car had 300 miles on it. The car has less than 5000 miles on it and it has spent some 10 days at the repair shop. Defects have included a transmission that would disengage, heated seats that would not turn off, A/C and side mirrors that would not work, a module had to be replaced, the car had to be aligned, the front spoiler fell off, a speaker had to be replaced, part of the trim on the back was falling off, the memory settings on the driver's seat were not working, and the sun roof was rattling. The sales department has responded to all my calls by saying that I need to talk to the service department or to VW corporate directly. I have done both, when I called VW corporate they responded that as long as the car was driveable they would cover it under warranty and would not replace the car. They offered me a lube job as a settlement!

- Glendale, AZ, USA