Consumer Complaint Detail
VOLKSWAGEN / PASSAT / 1997
1 Injured
0 Death
No Fire
| Components - Details | |
|---|---|
| NHTSA Complaint Number: 007121616 | Incident Date: Aug, 04 2007 |
| Consumer's City: WASHINGTON | Consumer's State: DC |
| Vehicle Transmission Type: MAN | Manufacturers Name: Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. |
| Model Name: PASSAT | Model Year: 1997 |
| Vehicle Involved in a Crash: No | Component's Description: Visibility:defroster/defogger/hvac system:heater core |
| Vehicle Involved in a Fire: No | Persons Injured: 1 |
| Vehicle's VIN#: WVWFE83A3VE | Date added to File: May, 23 2021 |
| Date Complaint Received: Oct, 01 2007 | Complaint Type: IVOQ |
| Incident Reported To Police: No | Purchase Date: Aug, 13 2001 |
| Was Original Owner: No | Anti-lock Brakes: Yes |
| Number of Cylinders: 6 | Date of Manufacturer: - |
| Was Vehicle Towed: - | Description of the Complaints: On sunday, august 5th, 2007, while driving the car with my 7 year old son in the back seat, dense, noxious 'steam'/smoke began to come out of all vents and around the dash area in my well-maintained volkswagen. hot coolant also leaked into the passenger compartment of my passat on the driver's side. note that this occurred while air conditioning (a/c) was on & continued to pour out of vents without a/c on. my 'low coolant' indicator light (red led in instrument cluster) also began flashing. fortunately, i was able to get the car (and my son) home without overheating after stopping on the side of a busy washington dc thoroughfare (wisconsin avenue), opening the fogged-up windows, cleaning the interior of the front windshield, and refilling the coolant reservoir/'overflow' tank with antifreeze purchased nearby. since the 'steam' smelled like coolant/antifreeze, i immediately suspected that this was due to a failure of my car's heater core. i subsequently confirmed this diagnosis after dropping off the passat at my long-time, certified, mechanic, beahm's auto service of silver spring maryland. beahm's diagnosed, but did not replace my heater core on tuesday, august 7th, 2007 (the heater core has been temporarily bypassed so that the car could be driven without additional coolant loss or of the car's windows/interior). my passat is otherwise in excellent, well-maintained condition with only 116,000 miles, no accidents, and it passed washington dc safety and emissions inspection in august, 2007. *tr |