NHTSA Complaint #10575783 — 2012 VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT

WHEN I STARTED MY CAR, A LOUD STRANGE NOISE CAME FROM THE STEERING WHEEL. THE CONTROLS ON MY STEERING WHEEL WOULD NO LONGER WORK, AND A WARNING LIGHT CAME ON FOR MY AIRBAG. AS MY HUSBAND DROVE US HOME, I SEARCHED THE OWNER'S MANUAL FOR THE AIRBAG WARNING LIGHT. THE ERROR MESSAGE IS TO WARN THE DRIVER THAT THE AIRBAG IS NOT WORKING PROPERLY AND MAY NOT DEPLOY AS IT SHOULD OR MAY DEPLOY WHEN IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO. THE OWNER'S MANUAL DID NOT WARN OF AN ACCIDENT, BUT I'M PRETTY SURE THE AIRBAG DEPLOYING UNEXPECTEDLY WOULD PROBABLY CAUSE A CAR ACCIDENT. MY HUSBAND TOOK MY CAR IN TO THE MCKINNEY, TX VW DEALERSHIP FIRST THING THE NEXT MORNING. THEY SAID THE CLOCK SPRING HAD MALFUNCTIONED. THEY REPLACED THIS PART, BUT MY STEERING WHEEL STILL MAKES A CLICKING SOUND WHEN TURNING. THIS IS THE SAME SOUND WE HEARD WHILE WE DROVE HOME THE NIGHT BEFORE WITH THE WARNING LIGHT ON. I RETURNED TO THE DEALERSHIP AND WAS INFORMED THE CLOCK SPRING WAS DEFECTIVE. THEY REPLACED THE CLOCK SPRING AGAIN, BUT I AGAIN HEARD THE SAME CLICKING NOISE WHEN TURNING. WHEN I RETURNED TO THE DEALERSHIP A THIRD TIME, I WAS TOLD THAT ALL OF THE PASSATS MAKE THIS NOISE, AND THAT THERE IS NOTHING WRONG. MY STEERING DID NOT MAKE NOISE THE FIRST 40,000 MILES I PUT ON THE CAR, SO I'M WORRIED THERE IS A DEFECT WITH THIS PART. I BOUGHT THIS CAR BRAND NEW. I FOUND ONLINE THAT A LOT OF OTHER PASSAT OWNERS HAVE THIS SAME COMPLAINT, AND MANY OF THEM HAD CLOCK SPRINGS REPLACED BECAUSE THEY WERE TOLD THEY WERE DEFECTIVE AS WELL. WITH SO MANY DEFECTIVE PARTS, THIS SEEMS WORTHY OF A RECALL SINCE THE AIRBAG COULD DEPLOY WITHOUT WARNING CAUSING A MAJOR ACCIDENT. *TR