I was taking an exit ramp onto the highway when my car just started accelerating on its own. I pulled onto the highway and was cruising at 55 mph. The car then jerked a little and started to accelerate past 60 then to 70. I pressed the brakes and nothing happened. My car then accelerated to 80 mph. I continued pressing the brakes to try to slow down but nothing happened. Then I heard a loud crack sound and all of a sudden the car started to slow down. That is when I realized it had actually shut off. So I pulled to shoulder and had it towed to a mechanic shop. It turns out the road hazard that I ran over was probably what saved me from serious injury or death. It busted my oil pan and that is what caused the car to shut off.

- Centreville, VA, USA

The heater core in these cars are horrible I've had mind replaced 3 times and I have to get another heater core and my car floor is full off water and it keeps leaking and the way the sound when your taking off I noticed that sound like a MINIweed eater when you press on the gas

- Montgomery, AL, USA

I experiencing a fuel distribution issue. It appears to be fuel injection system. My car sputters and misfires while driving. The engine readings are constantly changing. The engine idles high while it is stationary. When I accelerate to go up a hill or incline my car sputters uncontrollably. I have replaced the spark plugs and number of other parts but the problem persists.

- Lilburn, GA, USA

Clock spring failure. Clicking in steering wheel while turning car, air bag error light came on and none of the controls on the steering wheel work.

- North Palm Beach, FL, USA

I own a 2014 VW Passat. All of the functions on my the steering wheel when dead and the airbag light came on. The vehicle was stationary when the issue was first discovered. I had just started the car. After bringing the car to a dealership to have it diagnosed, it was diagnosed as a faulty clock spring. The replacement cost is $637 and the closest dealer is 45 miles away. This is a safety hazard as the air bag, horn and other steering wheel features do not work. After researching I've come to realize there are thousands of vehicles effected by this and no recall.

- East Nassau, NY, USA

The car's transmission is listed as "automatic", however it jerks on slow speeds and slowing down. This performance is described in the dsg diagram from the automotive technology web site. It also appears that this manufacturer (VW) was the first to design this an automated manual transmission, it was not approved by the nhsta. This transmission should not be classified and then certified as automatic. The buying public should be notified if their vehicle has this alternate transmission. The jerk and lurch of the vehicle is problematic if the driver loses control at the event that the transmission is actually at fault. There is no grind in the gears like a traditional automatic to indicate malfunction. This occurs at every start, stop which makes it the regular performance for the vehicle, but how does the owner know when things are not. Occurs stopping at lights. Following in slow traffic. Driving up hill. Parking.

- Stone Mountain, GA, USA

Twice, on May 12 and on October 22, while in a parking lot and pulling into a vertical parking spot at very low speed, I tapped the accelerator, and suddenly the car rapidly sped up. I was unable to stop it with the brake pedal, and I hit a brick planter the first time it happened, and I hit the post holding up the front of a building the second time. The brake pedal on the Passat is approximately 3" wide and located only an inch or so from the accelerator. It is possible that I hit both pedals while trying to stop the vehicle, but that does not explain the sudden acceleration that caused the car to jump the curb and hit the planter and the building. Frightening situation. I wasn't injured the first time but was fairly well shaken up the second. The body shop said the damage to the vehicle was almost exactly the same each time. I took the car to T he VW dealer after the first accident, but they said there was nothing wrong.

- Chico, CA, USA

The contact owns a 2014 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 2 mph, the accelerator pedal was depressed but the vehicle failed to accelerate. The accelerator pedal was depressed excessively in order for it to respond. The failure recurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where the failure was undetermined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 1,000.

- Florence, SC, USA

2014 Volkswagen Passat. Consumer writes in regards to vehicle unintended acceleration. The consumer stated he and his wife experienced the failure on three separate occasions, when preparing to park. The first two incidents occurred while pulling into his driveway. In each of the first two incidents the vehicle suddenly surged without application to the accelerator pedal. The third incident, resulted in damage to the vehicle, when his wife pulled into a parking spot. When she took her foot off the accelerator to brake and park the vehicle, the vehicle accelerated over a curb and hit the wall of a building. The impact caused the air bag to deploy and caused over $5,000 in damage.

- Seminole, FL, USA

As I tried to position myself to enter a parking lot. I changed gear to reverse, to back up. I switched gear again to drive. I proceed to the lot and that's when the car moved at a very high speed. I hit the brake, but had break failure. I could not stop the car, in the process (7) other cars were hit... until the car was stopped by another car that was hit.

- Plantation, FL, USA

I rented a 4 door VW Passat (license plate[xxx]; mva #[xxx]) from avis at the baton rouge airport on Tuesday, April 8, 2014. Today, April 11, 2014, while driving on the highway from new orleans to baton rouge my car accelerated to 80 miles and stayed at that rate (without me having my foot on the gas), approximately 7 or 8 times. My speed did not go down unless I pressed on the breaks, similar to what occurs when someone engages cruise control (but I had not engaged cruise control). Although this issue occurred several times, I could not positively identify the movements necessary to recreate the effect. However, I do know that it occurred at least some of the times (and possibly every time) when I was accelerating to pass a car* moved to the right hand lane. Towards the end of my drive I made sure to only be touching the steering wheel at the bottom, therefore it was not possible that I accidentally engaged the cruise control via any of the side levers, and on my model the only buttons on the steering wheel itself were for radio volume and station. I did not get into an accident, but I could imagine different circumstances had this issue arisen during denser traffic conditions. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

- Washington, DC, USA

Vehicle cruise control does not control speed downhill when cruise control is set. Vehicle speed keeps increasing while going downhill.

- Goleta, CA, USA