2006 Volkswagen Passat

IN APRIL 2009, WHILE DRIVING, THE "STEERING COLUMN LOCK DEFECT" MESSAGE APPEARED. AS DIRECTED, TOOK IT IMMEDIATELY TO DEALERSHIP. AFTER SERVICE, THEY INDICATED NO PROBLEM COULD BE FOUND. AFTER THIS, I WOULD HAVE THIS SAME ERROR MESSAGE APPEAR WHEN TRYING TO START THE CAR. MANY TIMES, IT WOULD TAKE 5-10 MINUTES OF TRYING BEFORE THE VEHICLE WOULD START. HAD IT IN FOR OTHER SERVICE OVER THE PAST YEAR & EACH TIME RELAYED THE PROBLEM. THEY NEVER COULD DIAGNOSE IT & SAID IT WAS PROBABLY JUST AN ISSUE WITH THE COMPUTER. IN APRIL OF 2010, THE PROBLEM STARTED OCCURRING MORE & MORE FREQUENTLY. IN LATE MAY 2010, COULD NOT GET THE VEHICLE TO START AFTER SAME STEERING COLUMN LOCK MESSAGE. THEN COULD NOT REMOVE THE KEY. FINALLY GOT THE KEY OUT; HOWEVER, THE DASH AND INTERNAL LIGHTS STAYED ON AND RAN DOWN THE BATTERY. WAS ABLE TO GET A CHARGE TO THE BATTERY BUT THEN THE ANTI-THEFT SYSTEM IMMOBILIZER ENGAGED RENDERING THE VEHICLE UNUSABLE. AFTER A YEAR OF REPEATEDLY TAKING THE CAR TO THE DEALERSHIP, IT IS NOW BACK THERE BUT IT HAD TO BE TOWED. DOING RESEARCH I HAVE FOUND THAT THIS SEEMS TO BE A VERY COMMON OCCURRENCE WITH THIS MAKE AND MODEL OF CAR; HOWEVER, NO RECALLS, ETC. HAVE BEEN ISSUED AND OBVIOUSLY THE LOCAL DEALERSHIP WAS UNABLE TO DIAGNOSE/FIX THE PROBLEM BEFORE IT CAME TO THE POINT OF THE CAR BEING TOTALLY UNUSABLE. *TR

2006 VW PASSAT EXPERIENCING "STEERING WHEEL COLUMN LOCK" FAILURE. THE LIGHT COMES ON AND THE CAR WILL NOT START. SOMETIMES THE CAR WILL SIMPLY TURN OFF WHEN DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD. MY ONLINE RESEARCH FOUND THAT THIS IS A COMMON PROBLEM WITH 2006, 2007, 2008 MODELS. THIS IS ALSO A SAFETY ISSUE BECAUSE THE CAR WILL SOMETIMES CONTINUE RUNNING AFTER THE KEY IS PULLED OUT OF THE IGNITION. DEALERSHIP SERVICE DEPARTMENTS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY ARE REPLACING THE STEERING COLUMN AND CONTROL MODULE FOR $1500 AND THIS NORMALLY HAPPENS OUTSIDE OF FACTORY WARRANTY SO WE THE CONSUMERS ARE STUCK WITH THE BILL. PLEASE LOOK INTO THIS AS THIS SHOULD BE A SAFETY RECALL! AND NOT THE FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF THE OWNERS. *TR

SYMPTOM #1) CAR WILL NOT START OR IF IT DOES START IT WILL IMMEDIATELY STALL AND STEERING COLUMN WILL LOCK. AFTER MOVING THE STEERING WHEEL BACK AND FORTH REPEATEDLY, REOPENING THE DOOR SEVERAL TIMES AND ATTEMPTING TO START THE PUSH IGNITION 5-10 TIMES IT WILL EVENTUALLY START AND RUN. SYMPTOM #2) MAJOR SAFETY ISSUE! CAR WILL LOSE ALL POWER WITHOUT WARNING AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS. THIS DEFECT CAUSES THE ENGINE TO STALL IMMEDIATELY, THE LOSS OF POWER STEERING AND THE LOSS OF ALL POWER CONTROLS AT SPEEDS AT LEAST UP TO 70 MPH. THERE IS NO WARNING FROM THE CAR ITSELF. THERE IS NO STUTTERING OR NOISE. SUDDENLY THE CAR IS JUST DEAD AND ROLLING ALONG AT EXTREME SPEEDS. THE FIX IS TO SHIFT THE CAR INTO NEUTRAL AND ATTEMPT TO RESTART BY REMOVING AND REINSERTING THE KEY UNTIL IT STARTS AGAIN. THE DASHBOARD WILL LIGHT UP "STEERING COLUMN DEFECT" AND PROMPT A WARNING LIGHT FOR THE STEERING COLUMN AS IF IT WERE LOCKED FROM A CAR ALARM PROMPT. OCCASIONALLY, I HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO RESTART THE CAR WHILE IN MOTION AND HAVE HAD TO PULL OFF TO THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. THIS IS DONE WITHOUT THE AID OF POWER STEERING AND CAN BE VERY DANGEROUS IN TRAFFIC AND AT HIGH SPEEDS AS THERE IS NO WAY OF "KNOWING" WHEN THE DEFECT WILL OCCUR. THIS DEFECT IS OCCURRING DAILY. I TOOK THE CAR INTO THE DEALER FOR DIAGNOSIS. WAS TOLD IT WAS A DEFECT IN THE STEERING COLUMN REQUIRING A COMPLETE REPLACEMENT. ESTIMATED COST TO MYSELF WAS $1,000-2,000. CAR IS NOW OUT OF WARRANTY (58,000 MILES). I BELIEVE THIS DEFECT IS NOT A RESULT OF ANY HABIT OF MYSELF AS THE DRIVER BUT RATHER A DEFECT IN THE WORKMANSHIP OF THE VEHICLE AND THE DEALER SHOULD BE SUBJECT TO A RECALL. A SEARCH ON GOOGLE ABOUT THIS ISSUE REVEALED THOUSANDS OF OTHER DRIVERS WITH THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM (STALL AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS, LOSS OF POWER STEERING, DIFFICULTY STARTING AND RESTARTING, POSSIBLE STRANDING OF THE DRIVER). I URGE A RECALL TO MOVE FORWARD IMMEDIATELY! *TR

MY 2006 VW PASSAT 2.0 TURBO HAS STEERING COLUMN ISSUES. THE CAR WILL NOT START WITHOUT MOVING THE STEERING WHEEL, AND THEN WAITING AND KEEP ON TRYING. THE CAR WILL START THEN IMMEDIATELY STALL, WITH AN ERROR IN THE MESSAGE BOARD THAT THE STEERING COLUMN IS DEFECTIVE. THIS HAPPENS 9 TIMES OUT OF 10 WHEN GOING TO START THE CAR. THE CAR HAS DIED WHILE DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY, AND THEN RESTARTS. I HAVE SEEN THIS ISSUE REPORTED BY MANY OTHER CONSUMERS ON VARIOUS FORUMS AND COMPLAINT SITES, BUT VW REFUSES TO RECALL FOR THE ISSUE. *TR

WHEN TRYING TO START 2006 PASSAT 2.0T, I GET ERROR MESSAGES ABOUT STEERING COLUMN LOCK BEING DEFECTIVE OR THERE ARE NO DASH LIGHTS AND CAR WON'T TURN OVER. PROBLEM IS GETTING WORSE. LOCATED ONLINE FORUM WITH 6 PAGES OF COMPLAINTS LIKE MINE. SEE THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE: HTTP://FORUMS.VWVORTEX.COM/SHOWTHREAD.PHP?3656214-STEERING-COLUMN-LOCK-FOR-2006-PASSAT/PAGE1. *TR

STEERING WHEEL COLUMN LOCK ERROR ON COMPUTER OF 2006 VW PASSAT. CAR STALLS ANYTIME THIS LIGHT WARNING COMES ON. IT HAS COME ON WHILE DRIVING CAUSING IT TO STALL AT HIGH SPEEDS MAKING IT HARD TO STEER TO THE RIGHT SHOULDER SAFELY. THIS ISSUE HAS CAUSED TWO INCIDENTS WHILE IN HIGHWAY TRAFFIC AND WAS A NEAR MISS ACCIDENT EACH TIME. IT OCCURS ON A DAILY BASIS NOW AND WAS INTERMITTENT AT FIRST. I WAS TOLD THAT THE FIX IS TO REPLACE THE ENTIRE STEERING COLUMN WHICH IS ABOUT $2K. TO GET THE CAR STARTED AGAIN, YOU HAVE TO MOVE THE STEERING COLUMN BACK AND FORTH AND AFTER ABOUT 4-10 ATTEMPTS TO START, THE CAR WILL START. THERE IS NO WARNING, IT JUST STALLS WHEN THIS ISSUE ARISES. IT HAS STALLED AT A RAIL ROAD CROSSING WHICH HAS A STOPPING POINT BEFORE YOU CROSS. VERY UNSAFE SITUATION, I WORK FOR THE UNITED STATES AIR FORCE AS A SAFETY INVESTIGATOR AND IF THIS EXISTED IN OUR AIR FORCE WE WOULD HAVE AN IMMEDIATE RECALL. THIS MATTER NEEDS TO BE PUSHED FORWARD AND INVESTIGATED. AFTER RESEARCHING THIS ISSUE I HAVE NOTICED MULTIPLE FORUMS STATING THE SAME ISSUES AND SAME COMPLAINTS. *TR