NHTSA Complaint #11537537 — 2015 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF

One night I started hearing a crunching noise while I was turning my wheel at low speeds. I backed out of a parking spot and started to turn the wheel to hear the full extent of the noise. The next morning, I got up and went out, backed up the car, turned the wheel to the same noise coming from the steering wheel. About an hour later, I drove home and turned into my parking spot, when the noise got worse and then stopped. At the end of the noise, two error codes arose: Airbag and transmission error. The steering wheel controls, such as volume and song control do not work, as well as other functions on the wheel, such as the dash control and cruise control buttons. I quickly googled the symptoms around the make, model and year and saw mass amounts of Volkswagen vehicles around 2015 that experienced the same issues, and the issue of a faulty clock-spring being the culprit. With this in mind, I reached out to a Volkswagen dealership to relay my concerns and the conversation ended with an appointment booked and a consensus that the issue was a faulty clock-spring, as many have had this issue. This issue seems to be widespread throughout many years and models of the Volkswagen line, however, my car follows a wide group of cars by one year in manufacture date, yet it lacks a recall part, despite the believed widespread affected group of cars. My appointment with the Volkswagen dealership went as expected- they found that my clock spring was indeed the issue. The service advisor admitted that the "clock-springs are bound to break." However, my car is 6,000 miles out of warranty to be able to cover the cost of this repair at the moment of typing this. And with further confirmation, the clock spring part is not a recalled part, thus deeming the uncovered service, despite the admittance to a faulty and common issue. I drove a significant distance to reach my dealership with the fear of my stearing wheel locking up while I am driving on the freeway. It has yet to lock.