NHTSA Complaint #10357124 — 2006 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT

MY DAUGHTER OWNS A 2006 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT. RECENTLY THE KEY BOX, HAS NOT ALWAYS WORKED TO START THE CAR. IT HAS BECOME VERY UNDEPENDABLE. I TOOK IT TO MY MECHANIC AND HE CHECKED EVERYTHING AND COULD FIND NOTHING WRONG. HE THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE THE CHIP IN THE KEY THAT HAD A PROBLEM AND MAYBE THE KEY NEEDED TO BE REPROGRAMMED. SHE STARTING USING HER OTHER KEY AND THERE WAS NO PROBLEM FOR A FEW WEEKS. CALLED ABOUT HAVING THE KEY REPROGRAMMED AND THE LOCAL VOLKSWAGEN DEALERSHIP IN BRAINTREE THOUGHT IT WASN'T THE PROBLEM. THE CAR WOULDN'T START AGAIN AND TOOK THE CAR BACK TO THE MECHANIC AND GOOGLED THE PROBLEM AND DISCOVERED MANY WEBSITES WHERE THERE WERE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE SAME PROBLEM AND ALL WHEN THE CAR HAD JUST GONE PAST THE WARRANTY AND ALL WERE ATTRIBUTED TO THE STEERING COLUMN LOCKING UP. ALL WERE SOLVED IF THE OWNERS WERE WILLING TO PAY $1500-$2000 TO REPLACE THE STEERING COLUMN. THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR YEARS ACCORDING TO THE INFORMATION I READ. I THINK THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS. THE CAR ONLY HAS 72,000 MILES AND IS ONLY 4 YEARS OLD. IN THE PROCESS OF CONTACTING THE MAIN VOLKSWAGEN OFFICE TO COMPLAIN, BUT ACCORDING TO ALL THE PEOPLE AND SITES I FOUND ON THE WEB, THEY WERE OF NO HELP. *TR