2012 Volkswagen Passat problems
NHTSA has received 664 complaints about the 2012 Volkswagen Passat, and 45% of them involve air bags. After that come electrical system (14%) and fuel system (7%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 664 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 45% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 16 and 5
- Injuries and deaths
- 14 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 57,000 miles 387 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 51 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 62 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 91 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 84 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 41 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 27 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 15 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 8 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 4 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 3 |
| 200k+ miles | 1 |
What the data shows
Among the 387 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 57,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 62,000 miles (102 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 16 complaints mention a crash; 5 complaints mention a fire; 14 injuries reported. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 85% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2012 ranks 6th most-complained-about out of 31 model years of the Volkswagen Passat with enough data (453 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 11 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
I was in a car accident. I was not at fault, but I was t-boned with almost over $11,000 in damage. The case was settled but the vehicle is still not in good shape. The air bags did not go off in the accident and I just received a recall for a steering wheel electronic clock issue that could prevent the air bags from going off. I accrued over $7,000 in medical bills, and I owe over $15,000 on the vehicle. I am not sure what to do because I feel I am driving a vehicle that isn't safe
Takata recall I looked up vehicles VIN an noticed 6 recalls on it I had got the issue fixed and I noticed my sensor in my tire was blinking I took it back to the dealership guy working told me only a sensor I need to pay for which I have already looked up an seen that it was a recall on the tire sensor on the 24 of february I'm riding down patton st in greensboro nc I noticed my airbag light was blinking steering wheel started to shake rattled me I pulled over and airbags deployed I began to get in the car I'm not…
On 8 to 10 occasions over the last two years I have lost power, I.e. The engine was running, but acted as though it were in neutral with high RPM?s. Sometimes it is intermittent and recovers power but on three occasions on a major interstate highways it has lost all power and I had to coast to the shoulder. Turning off the engine and it starts normally with full power.
Clock spring failure after recall service was performed. 2-8-2018 - upon starting to drive when I turned the steering wheel I heard a scraping sound in the steering column and then the air bag light came on indicating air bag not working, all control switches on the steering wheel and horn was not working. I had the recall for the protective cover over the steering wheel clock spring installed at the VW dealer in march 2016.