2012 Volkswagen Passat Electrical System Problems

We would have been in a life threating situation (very cold) if we would have not walked down highway to get internet service to look up the issue. What happened. We drove up from Phoenix to the mountains in Arizona. When starting the car after a stop (to look at a heard of Elk in a pasture) the car would not start. It would briefly start for a second then die. The dash lit up with many errors. We were stranded with no cell phone service with night approaching. We walked down the road and got cell service again and called family. Found out from online video while waiting for family to arrive you could disconnect the battery and reconnect to get the car started. We did this and it worked but engine light still was on. Car would not start again next morning and dash lit up. We would have been in a really bad situation (very cold) if we would have not walked down highway to get internet service to look up the issue. More internet research shows thousands of people have this problem.

Volkswagen Passat 2012 Passat key won't go into ignition - Trying to fit my key into ignition will not go in and or Turn [XXX] [XXX] Removing the plastic steering wheel shroud, (T25 x3) then remove VW ignition switch, Black plastic piece under spring pressure needs to come out, this piece is the piece that pushes the white plastic piece infront of the key. When this is removed, re-assemble. This same problem plagued my wife’s car, and me as I was dispatched to rescue her. There is a chance replacing all of this with new might fix the issue but removing the un-needed part accomplishes the same end goal, reliability for no cost, and no spray into ignition. [XXX]  Volkswagen ignition switch repair and diasssembly See [XXX] for full details. Volkswagen ignition switch repa... [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

CLOCK SPRING FAIL AIRBAG LIGHT IS ON HORN IS NOT WORKING DANGEROUS TO DRIVE CAR LIKETHIS

The electrical system failed. It has been to numerous mechanics many refusing to do the work. The car cuts off while driving randomly. When ignition is turned off and then turned back on car starts again. No light on dash alternator ecu fuel pump fuses all replaced in effort to try to find the issue with no avail. Car cuts off in mid traffic and then stalls .This is life threatening and should be addressed . No mechanic wants to work on this particular year and model car. Car has been inspected by Volkswagen dealer. No warning lights sounds or dashboard notifications.

I heard a loud crack while turning my steering wheel and now I have an "Airbag Error" message and the controls on my steering wheel do not work. Is this related to the Airbag recall? Is it the Steering Wheel Clock Spring?

Clock spring was replaced then went out again. Daughter now has a car with no air bag, no horn and none of the electrical working on staring wheel. We are told it will take 6 months for the part, but reading online seeing people waiting over 10 months now for the part. Dealer has no solution and says VW needs to take care of it.

On the 29th of January, upon turning on my car and turning my steering wheel, I heard a "clicking" noise, and immediately on the dash my airbag light displayed along with a message saying, "Error: Airbag". After driving, I realized that my horn no longer worked and the controls on my steering wheel were inoperable. When I arrived at my destination, I began looking up the issue and things that could cause the airbag light to display, along with causing the other issues I was experiencing. The first thing that popped up described a recall that was initiated in 2015 for the clockspring piece failing, which causes the airbag light to display, the horn to not work, as well as the controls on the steering wheel to not work. I looked up the CarFax on my specific vehicle and found that this clockspring piece was replaced on my car back in 2016 (before I owned it), so on the following Monday, I called my local Volkswagen dealership where the guy confirmed that this had been a recall that was previously fixed on my car and offered me an appointment for the 24th of February to confirm that this was the issue going on with my car. As I was unsatisfied with waiting this long, I called other local Volkswagen dealerships to see if they could get me in sooner. The York Volkswagen dealership got me in on the 4th of February, ran diagnostics, and confirmed that this was the issue with the car, the clockspring needed to be replaced, again. However, it was relayed to me that this piece is part of a nationwide backorder and that they could not give me a time frame of when they would be able to replace this piece for me, all they could do was tell me that the part had been ordered for me and they would call me when the part arrived. Upon asking what I was supposed to do in the meantime, as far as driving with this extreme safety issue or do as my inspection is coming up and will not pass inspection with the airbag light on or the horn not working, no one was able to give me any guidance.

Although this site has my car listed with ZERO unfixed recalls, that is not true. I received a recall notice for the clockspring on this vehicle, called my local dealership and was told it was no big deal, just to have it fixed when I brought my car in for 80k mile servicing. At that time, the clockspring had not yet broken and my car only had 50k miles on it. Late last October, my clockspring broke and I took it to the dealership. They ordered the part but said it was on backorder and it is STILL on indefinite backorder. I have now been driving more than 6 months with NO airbags, NO horn and NO hands free steering wheel controls. The dealership will not give me a loaner until my vehicle is made safe to drive. I have reached out to VW headquarters, the consumer product safety commission and the NTSB. I am on an online chat site where it is apparent there are thousands of us who cant pass state safety inspections and have had to park our vehicles or are driving them out of necessity, like myself. I am a widow who works full time and cant just buy another vehicle so easily. I believe VW should either buy our vehicles from us or give us loaners until they can be made safe to drive. People will have accidents and VW will wish they had done something. It should not get to that point! My local dealership told me the VW clockspring is made in Ukraine - so obviously this is not getting resolved by VW anytime soon. Please help! Thank you for your time. The failure of these parts leaves the vehicle with no airbags, horn or hands free controls on the steering wheel. Consumer stated there are thousands of us out here with unsafe and disabled vehicles and we can get no response at all from VW. Dealership stated the part is on indefinite backorder and consumer has already been without airbags, horn, etc for more than 6 months now. Consumer believes VW should authorize loaner vehicles until ours can be made safe to drive or purchase the vehicles to get them off the road. Right now, consumer can’t sell them, can’t pass state safety inspections and are unfortunately left to take a chance and drive them.

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2012 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT. THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING 76 MPH, THE CHECK ENGINE WARNING LIGHT AND EXHAUST FLUID WARNING LIGHTS ILLUMINATED. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE FAILURE PERSISTED FOR OVER A YEAR. AN ERROR CODE STATED VEHICLE SHUT-OFF AT 200 MILES WAS ON THE INSTRUMENT PANEL HOWEVER, THE VEHICLE DID NOT SHUT-OFF. THE CONTACT TOOK THE VEHICLE TO OVERTURF VOLKSWAGEN KIA (1016 WEST COLUMBIA DRIVE, KENNEWICK, WA 99336, (509-586-3185) HOWEVER, THE MECHANIC WAS UNABLE TO DETERMINE THE CAUSE OF THE FAILURE. THE DEALER REPLACED THE KNOCK SENSOR AND CATALYTIC CONVERTER HOWEVER, THE FAILURE PERSISTED. THE MANUFACTURE WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE BUT PROVIDED NO ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 76,000.

FAILED STEERING WHEEL CLOCK SPRING AS DESCRIBED IN 2015 RECALL 69L2. AIRBAG LIGHT IS ILLUMINATED AND ALL STEERING WHEEL BUTTONS, INCLUDING HORN, DO NOT FUNCTION. ALL SYMPTOMS BEGAN WHILE MAKING A TURN WHILE DRIVING VEHICLE. DEALER REPORTS THAT THIS VEHICLE IS NOT ELIGIBLE FOR RECALL REPAIR.

DOOR LOCK ACTUATOR BREAKS WITHOUT THE OPERATOR REALIZING IT, RESULTING IN A THREAT TO THE SAFETY OF THE OPERATOR AND SECURITY OF THE VEHICLE. THE ONLY WAY TO DIAGNOSE THE ISSUE IS USING VW CODE SCANNERS, OTHERWISE, THERE ARE NO OBVIOUS TRAITS TO AN UNSUSPECTING OWNER THAT THE DOOR LOCKS ARE INOPERATIVE. VW DEALER NEAR BY ESTIMATES THE REPAIR AT $400 AND REGULARLY KEEPS THE PART IN STOCK DUE TO THIS ISSUE.

WHEN I WAS DRIVING ON THE FWY MY AIRBAG LIGHT CAME ON AND MY DOOR LOCK ARE KEEP GOING OFF AS IF IM HITING THE LOCK BUTTON

I WENT OUT TO START MY CAR ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON TO RUN ERRANDS BUT WHEN I PUT MY KEY IN THE IGNITION, I COULD NOT GET THE ENGINE TO START AND DIDN'T HEAR A CLICKING SOUND. THE CAR HAD NOT BEEN MOVED FROM THE DRIVEWAY FOR ABOUT A DAY. ALL OF THE LIGHTS, RADIO AND DASHBOARDS WORK FINE AND ARE FULLY OPERATIONAL BUT I GET NOTHING FROM THE ENGINE..I HAD TO TAKE IT TO THE DEALERSHIP AND THEY SAID IT WAS A FAULTY ELECTRONIC CONTROL MODULE. THE TOTAL COST OF THE REPAIR IS $1,200 AND THEY ARE NOT EVEN CERTAIN IF IT CAN BE REPAIRED.

THE ABS/ESC AND/OR BRAKE SYSTEM WARNING LIGHTS CAME ON. AT VARIOUS TIMES THE LIGHTS WOULD ILLUMINATE AND THEN WOULD TURN OFF AFTER AN IGNITION KEY CYCLE. (THESE ARE THE EXACT PROBLEMS THAT VW HAD WITH ABS MODULES IN EARLIER MODELS. I AM NOT POSITIVE IF THIS IS TRUE BUT WHILE DOING RESEARCH ON THOSE MODELS, I READ THAT THESE ABS MODULE ISSUES TYPICALLY CAME UP AFTER 105,000 TO 110,0000 MILES ON THE VEHICLE. MY VEHICLE IS JUST NOW WITH IN THAT RANGE) AFTER TAKING IT TO A SHOP, THE MECHANIC NEEDED TO REPLACE THE ABS MODULE, TOTALING AROUND $1200. NOTE: DATE LISTED IS AN APPROXIMATE DATE

MY 2012 VW PASSAT WILL RANDOMLY TURN OFF WHILE PARKED & WHILE WAITING AT STOP LIGHTS WITHOUT ANY WARNING.USUALLY THIS HAPPENS WHILE THE VEHICLE IS STATIONARY, BUT ONCE IT HAS HAPPENED WHEN I STARTED TO MOVE WHEN THE STOP LIGHT TURNED TO GREEN.

CLOCK SPRING MALFUNCTION. WE HAD THE CLOCK SPRING COVER INSTALLED DUE TO RECALL, BUT THE CLOCK SPRING IS NOW INOPERATIVE WHICH CAUSES LOSS OF DRIVERS AIRBAG FUNCTIONALITY AND STEERING WHEEL ELECTRONIC CONTROLS. THE VEHICLE WAS BEING DRIVEN WHEN THE AIRBAG LIGHT CAME ON AND THE ELECTRONIC CONTROLS FAILED TO WORK.

TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2012 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT. WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 20 MPH, THE VEHICLE FAILED TO ACCELERATE AND THE ELECTRONIC POWER CONTROL (EPC) INDICATOR ILLUMINATED. THE CONTACT CALLED AND TOOK THE VEHICLE TO TEDDY VOLKSWAGEN (718-920-1400, LOCATED AT 3743 BOSTON RD, BRONX, NY 10466) WHERE THE EPC INDICATOR WAS RESET, BUT THE FAILURE RECURRED. WHILE THE CONTACT WAS HEADED BACK TO THE DEALER, THE FAILURE RECURRED. THE VEHICLE WAS PULLED OVER AND, WHEN RESTARTED, THE EPC INDICATOR TURNED OFF. AS A RESULT, THE DEALER STATED THAT THERE WAS NO FAILURE WITH THE VEHICLE. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE AND STATED THAT THE MATTER WOULD BE REFERRED TO THE REGIONAL DIRECTOR. THE REGIONAL DIRECTOR CALLED AND STATED THAT NOTHING COULD BE DONE UNLESS THE FAILURE RECURRED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 90,500.

CLOCK SPRING FAILURE RESULTING IN AIRBAG, STEERING WHEEL CONTROL, AND HORN MALFUNCTION. THIS SEEMS TO BE A BIG ISSUE WITH OTHER VW OWNERS BY DOING A SIMPLE GOOGLE SEARCH.

THE EPC LIGHT KEEPS FLASHING AND EVERYTIME THE CAR IS TAKEN TO THE VW DEALERSHIP THE REPLACE PART BUT THE PROBLEM REMAINS. WHEN THIS HAPPENS THE CAR LOOSES POWER AND IT STALS. SOMETIMES IT WOULD SHUT OFF WITHOUT WARNING AND THAT COULD BE VERY DANGEROUS.

AIRBAG WARNING LIGHT COMES ON DASH WHEN DRIVING. IT APPEARS TO ONLY COME ON WHILE DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY AT OVER 50 MPH. I HAVE HAD CURRENT TAKATA RECALL WARRANTY WORK COMPLETED ALREADY. VOLKSWAGEN SAID THIS IS A SEPARATE ISSUE AND WOULD NOT COVER UNDER RECALL WARRANTY. SPECIFICALLY, THEY SAID THE AIR BAGS WILL NOT DEPLOY WHILE THIS WARNING LIGHT IS ON IF INVOLVED IN AN ACCIDENT.