Vehicle Data Hub

2003 Volkswagen Passat wipers, windshield & visibility problems

Owners reported wipers, windshield & visibility problems in 22 complaints for the 2003 Volkswagen Passat, 3% of the complaints on file.

At a glance

Complaints
22 3% of this year's complaints
Typical mileage
42,000 miles 15 complaints with mileage
Crashes and fires
0 and 0
Injuries and deaths
1 and 0

Source: NHTSA owner complaints

When wipers, windshield & visibility problems show up

Wipers, windshield & visibility complaints by mileage, 2003 Volkswagen Passat Complaints by odometer reading in 20,000-mile steps. The median is about 42,000 miles. 0k to 20k miles: 4 complaints 20k to 40k miles: 3 complaints 40k to 60k miles: 5 complaints 60k to 80k miles: 2 complaints 80k to 100k miles: 1 complaints 100k to 120k miles: 0 complaints 120k to 140k miles: 0 complaints 140k to 160k miles: 0 complaints 160k to 180k miles: 0 complaints 180k to 200k miles: 0 complaints 200k+ miles: 0 complaints 040k80k120k160k200k miles Typical: 42,000 miles
Based on 15 complaints that include mileage. 80% were reported before 60,000 miles. The amber marker shows the median: half of these complaints happened before that mileage.
View the numbers
MileageComplaints
0k to 20k miles4
20k to 40k miles3
40k to 60k miles5
60k to 80k miles2
80k to 100k miles1
100k to 120k miles0
120k to 140k miles0
140k to 160k miles0
160k to 180k miles0
180k to 200k miles0
200k+ miles0

What the data shows

Of the 15 wipers, windshield & visibility complaints that report mileage, the median is about 42,000 miles, and 80% were reported before 60,000 miles.

These complaints mention 1 injury.

What owners wrote

The rear window glass fell inside the door while traveling at 80 MPH, causing my family to get extremely alarmed. I tried to put it back up via the power window switch on the door but it was incorporative. When I took it to volkswagen, they said a pin holding the window up broke. This is unacceptable as I had an infant next to the window at the time of the incident. Because of the infant's location, my wife's purse strap hit him in the face causing mirror injury.

Reported at 51,000 miles, July 2005 Injury

Rear view mirror was pulled off windshield by a 2 yr old, mirror separated at the ball-and-socket hinge with the base remaining glued to the windshield. No apparent damage to the mirror. Pushing mirror back together shattered the windshield in the area of the mirror. It is possible that pulling the mirror apart had already damaged the windshield (not checked before trying to put the mirror back together). I would have expected the mirror to unglue from the windshield or break before the windshield broke.

Reported at 95,000 miles, May 2011

Other problems reported for the 2003 Volkswagen Passat

Wipers, windshield & visibility problems in other years

Wipers, windshield & visibility problems across all Volkswagen models