VW Passat being investigated for fires
Boy, that's one hot car, that Passat. But is it so hot, in fact, that it self-immolates? The NHTSA seems to think that the ignition coil packs are prone to faults that can lead to fires underhood, in the instrument panel, or underneath the vehicle. Passats from 2000 to 2003 are currently under investigation by the NHTSA after 19 reports of spontaneous Teutonic combustion (hey!). Lucky owners who opted for the frugal TDI or spendy W8 can motor along blissfully, while gas-fueled four and six-pot drivers should start parking at the curb. No recall has been issued, but preliminary investigations such as this often end with the manufacturer issuing a recall. If it comes to that, VW's looking at fixing about 350,000 cars.
[Source: Bloomberg via Winding Road]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jeff Gilleran 5:51PM (5/17/2007)
After so many years of watching VW, one thing seems to hold true.
They cant seem to source good electrical or design it for that matter.
My parents used to have a 80 Volkswagen Dasher Diesel.
Was great on fuel, but was an electrical nightmare.
Fuse panels were horrid plastic melting monsters, and the tailight assembly was totally open to corrosion and arcing.
Fast forward to 2007.. Still having some serious electrical problems.
Be it Ignition, Charging/Starting systems or general wiring.
Not saying other automakers have mistakes in regards to electrical components, but VW has made what I consider a record in this regard.
One of the main reasons ive been leary of buying another VW.
The old Rabbit, the Beetle, Old and New as well as the Quantum, Jetta and Passat all experiencing electrical gremlins over the years.
Cant believe its still happening.
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Barney 6:12PM (5/17/2007)
i have to agree with Jeff. I had a Kenworth that was made in Brazil by Volkswagen. The electrical in that truck was a nightmare. They still used porcelain fuses when everyone else went to the blade type. A dash-bulb burned the circuit-board and all the alarms went off. From low air to oil pressure. The headlight switch burned out one night and I had to have the switch flown in before I headed out the following night. No way the circuit could be crossed to by-pass the switch.
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Todd S. 6:23PM (5/17/2007)
Like previous posters have said, no surprises here. My 2001 GTI used to burn out turn signal and brake lights on a regular basis - each one had clear evidence of receiving a spike that had fried the bulbs. In 2005, I had to replace all the spark plugs and 1 plug wire because the coilpack had fried them.
The last straw was when I had to replace all of the spark plugs and all of the plug wires AGAIN 12 months later. The service advisor also wanted me to replace the coilpacks, but he couldn't assure me that this was the cause of the problem or that this would prevent it from happening again.
After I coughed up $1100 for the second time in a year, my GTI and I took a final drive to the Saturn dealership, where I was very happy to pick up my new Aura.
It's such a shame, too - I really loved that car but couldn't stomach the repair bills.
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djSyndrome 6:34PM (5/17/2007)
Our 2002 New Beetle suffered all kinds of electrical failures in the year we had it - including leaving us stranded for refusal to start and dying while on railroad tracks (fortunately, no train coming and it sure is easy to push those things out of the way). We got out of the lease and picked up a Toyota, which has been electrically sound but just suffered a blown engine due to an oil pump failure, a repair that made the electrical problems seems like chump change.
You can't win no matter what you get, I guess :\
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CharlieMack 10:02AM (5/18/2007)
2002 Passat - no problems and if there are I'll take her in - go dump on the American Cars, they really do suck.
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Marvelous 7:12PM (5/17/2007)
If the fire are from the 1.8t engine then thats a lot of recalls. That is in many VAG vehicles and is their most popular. I dont have any problems with my coilpack on my 02 Audi A4 but many people on the Audiworld & Audizine board complain about this. VAG is notorious for sweeping this stuff under the rug even after owners complaints.
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Colin Smith 7:49PM (5/17/2007)
Well,
It's known that VWs catch fire soemtimes, isn't it?
We're not supposed to mention this actually, since VWs are considered beyond reproach. So please be quiet. Sorry to be naughty. Fiats are unreliable and rust: untrue/true - before 1990, and VWs are just perfect and never go wrong and never catch fire. Well, they do go wrong, and they have a bit of a reputation for self-immolating. Get a fire extinguisher.
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flyboy8824 8:07PM (5/17/2007)
o shit, the check engine light on my 2002 passat v6 just came on today and has been driving funny. uh oh
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Bryan 9:11PM (5/17/2007)
DJsyndrome you can win. My grandmothers (not your average grandma she was a police officer) has a 2000 Taurus that has never had a single issue. The Taurus might have not been the best car money can buy, but for an 18k se with the mach sound stereo and the super fast V6 its been well worth it.
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far jr 10:23PM (5/17/2007)
I wouldn't jump on VW too hard yet. Why doesn't AB just wait to report this until an actual recall is issued? Although it doesn't look promising from all the "issues" VW has had lately. Don't sink the perception further.
I actually almost bought VW's several times. I love the styling. Just can't justify the extra cost vs. the competition and now the quality issues that seem to be engineered into every model.
A former neighbor had a Jetta and steered me away from VW with all of his repeated paint and electrical problem stories.
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iQuack 12:06AM (5/18/2007)
There must be something that people like about VWs, but it's hard to understand why people continue to buy a brand with such a lousy service record.
The current VWs aren't ugly, but their styling isn't so inspired that it beats many more reliable Hondas, Toyotas, Nissans, Subarus, and newer GM cars.
VW's substandard service record was well-established when I last shopped for a car in 2003. I didn't even bother to look at any VW cars and have no regrets because VWs haven't improved since then.
What's the attraction of Volkswagen other than its hippie image that might appeal to now upper middle-aged former flower children who drove VWs to Woodstock and want to relive some of that?
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bigFoote 2:55AM (5/18/2007)
Hey I just sold my '02 1.8t passat. Talk about timing. Just before I sold it I had the engine light come on but when I took it in the mechanic told me it was because my airbags went off (I had been in an accident) I told him that the light was not on for months after the accident and it only came on recently but he insisted that it was just the airbags. Well a few days later the car started lurching and stuttering so I took it too another mechanic and it turns out my transmission was destroyed and needed replacing. I had it replaced once after the wreck so this was the second tranny I put in. The car had to go before it cost me any more money. I liked it before the accident and I would love to own a new GTI but I can't afford it right now.
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Aamar 2:49AM (5/18/2007)
my links added our side http://www.pakcar.com
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josh 6:43AM (5/18/2007)
Burn the cars down! Ugly and dull as they are!
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Tina 8:28AM (5/18/2007)
It is unfortunate that they do seem to have electrical gremlins. The tdis are extremely fuel efficient and they have that diesel market. Once some other car manufacturers get some diesels over here I think Volkswagen will be hurting.
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Big Mike Wood 8:43AM (5/18/2007)
People buy VW's because styling-wise you get a lot for your money. Good styling can convince a lot of people to overlook shoddy quality.
European marques typically give you great design and bad quality. Japanese marques tend to give you boring design with good quality. Not sure what to make of the Koreans yet. Fortunately for Detroit they're finally at the point of offering good design AND good quality.
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R.Autry 10:02AM (5/18/2007)
VW electrical systems are underdesigned. Too much load and too little capacity to carry it. Connectors and sockets are under rated too. My first experience was a 1975 Audi Fox (VW parent) that had a wire behind the dash melt and create a smoke fire. My wife and daughter bailed out of the car in the middle of Crab Tree Valley Mall (Raleigh, NC) traffic with smoke billowing. Fortunately (or sadly) no fire resulted and I was able to replace the melted wire with a heavier gauge. Fuse did not blow. Eeek!
Subsequent VWs down thru the years reveal the same frugality of design in electrics. Wake up boys. there are better ways to save production money.
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Calebe 4:41PM (5/21/2007)
We have all heard the nightmare stories. My good friend had a Jetta that was a blast to drive, looked very nice but was about as reliable as a 1980 Renault. There seems to be a breakdown not with just the cars but with the whole company, from dealers all the way to top brass.
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P to the C 10:59AM (5/18/2007)
Sorry, but reliability reports from Consumer Reports to J.D. Powers all indicate that Volkswagens as a group are worse than anything coming out of Detroit. Really this is just common knowledge to anyone who follows cars. It's pretty tough to buy a car that has a worse reliability record than VW unless you buy a Land Rover or Kia or some other POS like that. Heck, the 2006 report shows that your couple year old VW has almost 1/3 more problems than your couple year old Chrysler or Pontiac.
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Jeff Gilleran 12:42PM (5/18/2007)
Seems like im not the only one seeing these problems.
R.Autry, yeah thats what happened to my parents Dasher.
The Dash fuses melted and like you said it was due to underrated wiring.
The ceramic fuses were really a joke.
Way more chances of arcing.
They also do indeed use small gauge wire to run a higher amperage load.
Recipe for disaster as the wiring ages and creates more resistance generating more and more heat and finally..POOF!
I think electrical wiring needs to be built to solid and safe standards like anything else.
What good are airbags and crumplezones if the car catches on fire and explodes?
Anytime you have a situation where electrical can even possibly "spark" or create a open flame and if you happen to be carrying say, a "gas can" in the back of your car and its emitting some fumes freshly coming from the gas station to fill the old lawn mower you might be in for a big suprise!
Volkswagen has created some tidy designs but I agree with them really holding a lower level of quality and pushing for looks over function.
Ive told this over and over to friends buying: "never buy on appearances alone".
Do some research first.
Like anything else (people included) beauty doesn't mean happiness.
Big mike wood.."People buy VW's because styling-wise you get a lot for your money. Good styling can convince a lot of people to overlook shoddy quality."
Right on the dude.
You couldnt be more correct.
Initially, you might be happy but it certainly can and does bite you on the ass.
Im just saying that it might be a good idea to try and look under the skin and be sure you can live with whatever else the car might to dish out in the way of potential problems and decide if you can live with those problems.
I want to like VW and im trying to, but Im getting more and more impatient as well as dissapointed with all the electrical gremlins and of course VW's obvious lack of doing anything about it to remedy the situation.
With more and more computers and system controls surrounding computers you CANNOT sell cars successfully without creating vehicles with electrical system quality and integrity.
A poster mentioned Fiat yep they used to be pretty bad and many of the old "lucas" based ignition systems used on Triumph and MG as well as Landrover were real reasons to consider something else.
Fiat for instance builds some pretty solid cars these days.
They learned from their mistakes.
Some of the other companies are out of business.
I wonder why.
I can personally handle an occasional alternator or starter but not have an underdash fire rendering my vehicle inoperative with large amounts of labor and parts to fix it.
Provided of course it doesnt catch the whole car on fire.
Are you listening VW?
Straighten up or you might find yourself out of business.
Peoples lives might depend on you spending a few more bucks for higher quality electrical components.
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