Consumer Complaint Detail

VOLKSWAGEN / PASSAT / 1999

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
No Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 006072520 Incident Date: Jul, 20 2006
Consumer's City: COLUMBUS Consumer's State: OH
Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO Manufacturers Name: Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
Model Name: PASSAT Model Year: 1999
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No Component's Description: Suspension:front:control arm:lower arm
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: Date added to File: May, 23 2021
Date Complaint Received: Jul, 23 2006 Complaint Type: IVOQ
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: -
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: Yes
Number of Cylinders: 4 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: The failure of lower control arm happened without any warning, during normal driving on the city road when making a right turn (approximately at 5 mph speed). right front suspension lower control arm sheared in two pieces, leaving a front passenger wheel completely separated. if this should happened on any higher higher speed, consequences would be deadly. i researched this safety hazard and found that vw issued a service action for the lower control arm on 1999 passat. however, vw service representative informed me that the service action does not cover my vehicle. vw's explanation was that it only covers parts from certain supplier (according to representative, vw used two different suppliers for the lower control arm). i believe that lower control arm was a defective part, as this type of failure could not be a result of normal wear and tear. it is a safety hazard. i have to replace lower control arm, drive shaft and wheel liner (and, possibly some other parts which were damaged as a result of the control arm failure) at my expense. i believe, vw should cover at least some of the expense, as it happened as a result of a factory defect. *nm