2013 Volkswagen Passat
Complaints about this year name takata recall far more often than the other years of this generation — 18% of them, about 46× the usual rate of 0.4%.
Generation 2 of the Volkswagen Passat, which began in 2012. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 748 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 148 |
| Involving a crash | 29 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 9 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 25.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- takata — 24.7% of this year's complaints, against 5% across the other years of this generation (4.9×). Owners wrote it as: takata, takata recall, confirms, tool.
- bags — 22.3% of this year's complaints, against 6.1% across the other years of this generation (3.6×). Owners wrote it as: bags, air bags, amount time, time recall.
- tdi — 10.2% of this year's complaints, against 3.7% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: tdi, passat tdi, sel, high pressure.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- amount time — 15% of complaints, 36× usual
- time recall — 14% of complaints, 35× usual
- air bags — 21% of complaints, 9× usual
What owners wrote
TAKATA RECALL REC'D NOTICE 2/16 ABOUT RECALL ON AIR BAGS, NO FURTHER INFO HAS BEEN REC'D.
TAKATA RECALL: DAUGHTER DRIVE CAR TO COLLEGE. RECEIVED RECALL 1YR AGO FROM 12-12-16 STILL NO AIR BAGS AVAILABLE AT DEALER. HOW LONG DO WE HAVE TO WAIT TO FIX THIS CAR. DOES SOMEONE HAVE TO DIE IN MY CAR FIRST?
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V389000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 18V148000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 17V309000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 16V078000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V483000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V171000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 14V125000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 19V862000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 9. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Volkswagen Passat was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2013 Volkswagen Passat? What happened to yours?
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