2013 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT — Complaint #976889
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about BACK OVER PREVENTION:WARNINGS:EXTERNAL/PEDESTRIAN ALERT filed May 2, 2013
NHTSA complaint #976889 (ODI reference 10510360) concerns a 2013 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT and was filed on May 2, 2013. The owner reports the failure occurred on January 20, 2011. The vehicle had 150 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Virginia based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as back over prevention:warnings:external/pedestrian alert, 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 back over prevention:warnings:external/pedestrian alert 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 2013 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
THE BACKUP CAMERA IS VERY SLOW TO RESPOND WHEN PLACING THE VEHICLE INTO REVERSE (15-25 SECONDS). FREQUENTLY, THE CAMERA WILL NOT ACTIVATE UNTIL THE VEHICLE HAS COMPLETED BACKING UP AND THE VEHICLE IS PLACED INTO DRIVE. VOLKSWAGEN IS AWARE OF THE ISSUE, HAVING IDENTIFIED IT IN A VW TECHNICAL BULLETIN. I CONTACTED VOLKSWAGEN CUSTOMER CARE IN AUBURN, MI, ABOUT RESOLVING THE ISSUE. I RECEIVED A LETTER FROM[XXX], DATED 22 APRIL 2013, WHICH STATED: ". . . YOUR VEHICLE IS OPERATING AS PER ITS DESIGNED INTENT. AS SUCH, WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MAKE A REPAIR TO [THE] SYSTEM." INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6). *TR UPDATED 05/05/14.*JB
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 976889 |
| ODI Number | 10510360 |
| Date Filed | May 2, 2013 |
| Failure Date | January 20, 2011 |
| VIN | 1VWCM7A31DC |
Similar BACK OVER PREVENTION:WARNINGS:EXTERNAL/PEDESTRIAN ALERT Complaints for 2013 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT
THE BACKUP CAMERA IN THIS VEHICLE FREQUENTLY FAILS TO ACTIVATE WHEN THE VEHICLE IS PLACED IN REVERSE. VW OFFICIALS ACKNOWLEDGE, IN A WRITTEN RESPONSE, A DELAY TIME OF ONE (1) TO TWO (2) MINUTES BEFORE
BACKUP CAMERA IS SLOW TO START. MAY TAKE FROM 5 TO 20 SECONDS TO BECOME OPERATIONAL AFTER START UP. THIS IS HAZARD WITH RESPECT TO RELIANCE ON BACKUP CAMERAS BY DRIVERS TO SEE OBSTRUCTIONS BEHIND TH
AS MANY OTHERS HAVE STATED ON THIS SITE AND ALL OVER THE INTERNET, THE BACK-UP CAMERA IS RIDICULOUSLY SLOW TO COME ON. MOST TIMES, I CAN BACK OUT OF MY DRIVEWAY, STOP, AND BE GOING FORWARD DOWN THE S
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.