2001 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT — Complaint #665869
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FOUNDATION COMPONENTS:DRUM:SHOES/LININGS filed April 15, 2008
NHTSA complaint #665869 (ODI reference 10224606) concerns a 2001 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT and was filed on April 15, 2008. The owner reports the failure occurred on April 3, 2008. The report was geocoded to Massachusetts based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as service brakes, hydraulic:foundation components:drum:shoes/linings, 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. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
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 service brakes, hydraulic:foundation components:drum:shoes/linings 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 2001 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
1. FRONT AND REAR BRAKES INADEQUATE FOR VEHICLE--HAD TO HAVE BRAKE WORK AT ~20,000 MILES AND AGAIN AT JUST UNDER 42,000 MILES (THIS HAS NEVER BEEN A PROBLEM WITH ANY OTHER CAR). BRAKES REPAIRED/PARTS REPLACED TWICE. CAR SHOULD BE RECALLED BY MANUFACTURER FOR BRAKES 2. SUNROOF +/- WINDSHIELD DRAIN(S) BECAME BLOCKED AND LEAKED AND FLOODED PASSENGER FOOTWELLS, WITH RISK OF DAMAGE TO TRANSMISSION. THIS IS A MANUFACTURING DEFECT WITH THIS MAKE AND MODEL AND HAS BEEN WIDELY REPORTED ON THE WEB. VW NEEDS TO RECALL CARS FOR THE PROBLEM WITH BLOCKED DRAINS/LEAKAGE AND DAMAGE TO VEHICLES. COST TO VACUUM WATER OUT OF FOOTWELLS BELOW THE CARPET > $600 WITH NO GUARANTEE THAT PROBLEM WILL NOT RECUR 3. VW PASSAT HAS A KNOWN PROBLEM WITH SLUDGE BUILD UP IN ENGINE AND CONSEQUENT ENGINE FAILURE--I HAVE NOT (?YET) HAD THE PROBLEM BUT FEEL THAT VW GUARANTEE TO REPAIR PROBLEM ONLY IF OWNER CAN PROVE OIL CHANGES EVERY 3000 MILES IN AN UNREASONABLE ABNEGATION OF DUTY. THIS IS A DESIGN FLAW AND THE COMPA
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 665869 |
| ODI Number | 10224606 |
| Date Filed | April 15, 2008 |
| Failure Date | April 3, 2008 |
| VIN | WVWVH63B91E |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.