2017 Volkswagen Passat problems
NHTSA has received 177 complaints about the 2017 Volkswagen Passat, and 16% of them involve air bags. After that come forward collision avoidance (11%) and electrical system (10%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 177 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 16% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 14 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 6 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 24,000 miles 77 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 | 26 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 19 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 16 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 6 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 2 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 4 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 2 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 2 |
What the data shows
Among the 77 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 24,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 14 complaints mention a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 6 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2017 ranks 13th most-complained-about out of 31 model years of the Volkswagen Passat with enough data (130 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 7 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 hit from behind in stopped traffic and pushed into the car in front of me. I was stopped in heavy traffic on a two-way road when hit. The driver airbag didn't deploy and the collision inspector told me that my seat belt didn't either! I am lucky I wasn't hurt worse. The car I was driving was not a safe car, but was sold to me as a certified preowned car.
These tires were on 2017 VW passat on 19” aftermarket wheels driven by my son. Previous tires of different brand had flats on passenger side one month earlier. On July 26, 2022 the new tire had blowout on driver rear location causing vehicle to lose traction spin and crash into wooded area on side if I 75 south of Tampa. My concern is these aftermarket wheels had three flats in three week period. Two different brands of tires on same 19” aftermarket rims.
Rattle noises while driving on asphalt roads from rear of vehicle underneath car and/or front. Loose bolts or missing welds maybe. Dealer replace front sway bar and problem did not go away so wallas volkswagen put the original oem part back on last month and did not charge us for the service. They told us it's unknown why the rattling continued.
The passat autonomous braking system engaged while driving on a divided four-lane street with no traffic or obstructions. Lane assist has repeatedly disabled itself. Park assist sensors have repeatedly detected objects extremely close when nothing is present. There have been numerous other system failures. In 2019, I first reported the issues to a volkswagen service center for repair. Since that time, the vehicle has spent weeks in service with volkswagen involvement, with a report of no errors found.