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2003 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT — Complaint #628400

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NHTSA Complaint about EXTERIOR LIGHTING:BACK UP LIGHTS:SWITCH filed June 26, 2007

NHTSA complaint #628400 (ODI reference 10194220) concerns a 2003 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT and was filed on June 26, 2007. The owner reports the failure occurred on January 23, 2007. The report was geocoded to Ohio based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as exterior lighting:back up lights:switch, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.

The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. No VIN was supplied by the filer, so this complaint contributes to model-year trend data but cannot be tied to a specific vehicle.

Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT cohort independently describe similar exterior lighting:back up lights:switch failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2003 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.

Vehicle
2003 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT
Component
EXTERIOR LIGHTING:BACK UP LIGHTS:SWITCH
State
Ohio

Complaint Description

REGARDING RECALL 07V063000. I OWN A 2003 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT THAT HAD THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM WITH THE BRAKE LIGHT SWITCH. THE BRAKE LIGHTS CAME ON AND STAYED ON ALL DAY. I HAD NO IDEA THERE WAS A PROBLEM. I PARKED THE CAR, AND THE BRAKE LIGHTS STAYED ON ALL NIGHT AND DRAINED THE BATTERY. THE DEALERSHIP REFUSED TO HONOR THE RECALL, STAYING VEHICLE WAS EXCLUDED FROM THE RECALL DUE TO THE VIN. I HAD TO PAY THE REPAIR COSTS OUT OF POCKET AND VOLKSWAGEN CORPORATE REFUSED TO REIMBURSE ME. *AK

Complaint Details

NHTSA Complaint ID 628400
ODI Number 10194220
Date Filed June 26, 2007
Failure Date January 23, 2007

Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.