← New search

2015 Volkswagen Passat

Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations

More warning signs than most Passat years

Owner complaints for the 2015 Volkswagen Passat are substantially higher than the model-year median of 110.

About this comparison →

When problems were reported

Mileage at the reported incident

132 reports with mileage · 111 unknown

NHTSA’s mileage field refers to the reported incident, not necessarily the filing date. This shows report counts, not the likelihood of a failure.

What to inspect

Issues worth paying extra attention to based on owner reports.

  • Air Bags. Review the 88 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Engine. Review the 53 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Electrical System. Review the 48 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →

NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.

11 crash reports2 fire reports7 injury reports

Engine complaints

53 reports
Clear category filter
Mileage unknown · Feb 20, 2023
Engine

Engine cylinder number one piston broke while driving. Vehicle has only 91,000 miles on it and now entire engine needs replacing. Ironically, it was taken to a VW dealership only a few weeks ago for normal servicing, and no problems detected.

NHTSA ODI #11508188

113,000 miles · Feb 1, 2023
Engine

The contact owns a 2015 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated that while driving approximately 75 MPH with the cruise control engaged, the defroster failed and became inoperable. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that the heater core needed to be replaced. …

Read full complaint

The contact owns a 2015 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated that while driving approximately 75 MPH with the cruise control engaged, the defroster failed and became inoperable. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that the heater core needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. There was a previous coolant flush and timing belt replacement at approximately 80,000. The manufacturer was contacted but provided no additional assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 113,000.

NHTSA ODI #11504919

79,000 miles · Nov 4, 2022
Engine

The contact owns a 2015 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated while driving 5 mph and making a left turn, the vehicle stalled in the middle of the road of oncoming traffic. The contact placed the vehicle into park and restarted the vehicle. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. Additionally, the vehicle would shud…

Read full complaint

The contact owns a 2015 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated while driving 5 mph and making a left turn, the vehicle stalled in the middle of the road of oncoming traffic. The contact placed the vehicle into park and restarted the vehicle. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. Additionally, the vehicle would shudder and idle at a high RPM when she started the vehicle. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that a fuel pump sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the stalling failure reoccurred. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was also illuminated. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 79,000.

NHTSA ODI #11492331

Mileage unknown · Apr 29, 2022
Engine

The car consumes one quart of oil per week. Also, the Electronic Stabilization Control and ABS cause the car to sputter and stop. This happened in 2019 and now it is happening again in 2022.

NHTSA ODI #11462816

Mileage unknown · Oct 7, 2021
Electrical SystemEngineFuel/propulsion System

The car went 8 blocks 35mph the engine started shaking, I was stopping at the red light the car surging forward with my foot on brake engine still shaking. This all happened in 3 minutes. No lights on dashboard, the rpm dropped from 2,000 to 1,000 and then everything was ok.

NHTSA ODI #11435975

Mileage unknown · Oct 2, 2021
EngineFuel/propulsion SystemSuspension

Engine time chain skipped. Fuel rail leak from regulator(dangerous to drive as it can catch on fire). Suspension problem car shakes over 40mph(alignment and balance did not help), problem due to coils or other components. Mechanic shop checked car and they denied to work on it due to fuel recall.

NHTSA ODI #11435204

Mileage unknown · Sep 27, 2021
EngineUnknown Or Other

The oil light/message comes on, the engine burns oil excessively about 1 quart every 1,000 miles or so. Our biggest fear is that this will continue to get worse and the engine may seize up at some point due to this issue and cause a loss of power and/or a severe accident for us or anyone operating one of these VW vehicles with t…

Read full complaint

The oil light/message comes on, the engine burns oil excessively about 1 quart every 1,000 miles or so. Our biggest fear is that this will continue to get worse and the engine may seize up at some point due to this issue and cause a loss of power and/or a severe accident for us or anyone operating one of these VW vehicles with the same issue. VW indicated that this is "normal" but it does not seem "normal". We have never owned a vehicle (even older vehicles back in the 80s/90s) that had an issue like this, and this is a newer (2015) vehicle that we bought brand new. We had the shop look at the vehicle and they said it is burning oil and there might be a class-action against VW for it burning oil. It did not have this issue until some time after 30,000 miles which tells us that something changed in the engine at some point. With all of the burning oil, this cannot be good for air quality and the environment - not sure how many of these engines are on the road currently, but multiplied out it has to be contrary to any clean air acts that may exist in various states or at the federal level. Additionally, the oil is special "european" and is relatively expensive - the manufacturer indicates up to 10,000 miles between oil changes, so that could be up to 10 quarts of oil burning into the atmosphere (and costing money) for a single VW vehicle every few months, not to mention the safety concern if someones engine seizes up as a result causing a loss of power, loss of power steering, loss of power brakes, etc. The date shown for 'incident' is the most recent date that we had to add oil due to this issue.

NHTSA ODI #11434542

Mileage unknown · Aug 3, 2021
EngineUnknown Or Other

On May 4th 2021 start button was replaced. While driving back the car from the dealer, car started to idle violently. Same thing happened the next day. So I drove it to the dealer. Service Manager requested a mechanic to drive the car around and this time we could not reproduce the problem. Instead of running any diagnostics, se…

Read full complaint

On May 4th 2021 start button was replaced. While driving back the car from the dealer, car started to idle violently. Same thing happened the next day. So I drove it to the dealer. Service Manager requested a mechanic to drive the car around and this time we could not reproduce the problem. Instead of running any diagnostics, service manager asked me to leave. Then for past 3 months this problem has been happening on and off. For past 3 days the car started to shake violently at lights (awaiting green signal) and ESC warning started to appear on the dash board. Today I took it to the dealer and they suggested me to change intake cam shaft etc with a total estimate of $ 5000.00 Before the change of start button this car ran just fine.

NHTSA ODI #11427545

160,000 miles · Jan 24, 2021
Engine

CAR IS BURNING EXCESSIVE OIL WITHIN 3,000 MILES AFTER OIL CHANGE

NHTSA ODI #11389644

Mileage unknown · Jan 15, 2021
Engine

I BOUGHT THIS VEHICLE AT DRIVETIME IN PITTSBURGH (NORTH HILLS) WITH 36,000 MILES. THE ENGINE HAD A LOUD SOUND FROM THE MOMENT THAT I TOOK IT OFF THE LOT. I WAS TOLD "THAT IS HOW VWS SOUND". PROGRESSIVELY IT HAS GOT WORSE, NOW I HAVE AN ESTIMATE TO REPLACE A TIMING CHAIN AND CAMSHAFT WITH ONLY 82,987 MILES. THIS IS INSANE. IT HAS…

Read full complaint

I BOUGHT THIS VEHICLE AT DRIVETIME IN PITTSBURGH (NORTH HILLS) WITH 36,000 MILES. THE ENGINE HAD A LOUD SOUND FROM THE MOMENT THAT I TOOK IT OFF THE LOT. I WAS TOLD "THAT IS HOW VWS SOUND". PROGRESSIVELY IT HAS GOT WORSE, NOW I HAVE AN ESTIMATE TO REPLACE A TIMING CHAIN AND CAMSHAFT WITH ONLY 82,987 MILES. THIS IS INSANE. IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN BAD, AND I AM FURIOUS.

NHTSA ODI #11388301

Official recalls

7

19V862000 · Air Bags:frontal:driver Side:inflator Module

Dec 4, 2019

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2012-2015 Passat, 2011-2014 Golf A6, and 2011-2013 Audi A3 diesel vehicles, thought to have been previously repaired under one of the Takata air bag recalls. The driver's side air bag inflator may explode due to propellant degradation occurring after long-term exposure to high absolute humidity, high temperatures, and high temperature cycling.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: An inflator explosion may result in sharp metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy: Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's side air bag inflators, free of charge. The recall began December 20, 2019. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298 or Audi customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Volkswagen's numbers for this recall are 69R6, 69Q8, 69Q9, and 69Y5.

19V389000 · Exterior Lighting:headlights

May 22, 2019

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2012-2020 Volkswagen Passat and 2018-2019 Atlas vehicles. The blocking cap disabling the adjustment of the headlight's horizontal aim may not have been installed. As such, these vehicles fail to conform to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 108, "Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment."

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: Without the blocking cap, the headlight aim can be adjusted out of specification, reducing visibility and increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and, as necessary, block the headlight horizontal adjustment, free of charge. The recall began July 16, 2019. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-253-2834. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 94L9.

19V014000 · Air Bags:frontal:driver Side:inflator Module

Jan 11, 2019

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2015 Passat, 2015-2016 Eos, 2015-2017 CC, 2016-2017 TT Roadster, TT Coupe, 2017 Audi R8 Coupe, and R8 Spyder vehicles. Upon deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, excessive internal pressure may cause the inflator to explode.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, the inflator could explode with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.

Remedy: Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's frontal air bag inflator with an alternative inflator, free of charge. The recall began March 4, 2019. Volkswagen owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298; Audi owners may contact Audi at 1-800-253-2834. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 69S8 (Audi) and 69Y5 (Volkswagen).

15V705000 · Engine And Engine Cooling:engine; Service Brakes, Hydraulic:power Assist:vacuum

Oct 26, 2015

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain model year 2015-2016 Jetta, Beetle, Beetle Convertible, Passat, Golf and Golf SportWagen vehicles. In the affected vehicles, the camshaft lobe that drives the brake vacuum pump may shear off, resulting in a loss of brake assist.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: If the camshaft lobe shears off there would be a loss of brake assist, lengthening the distance needed to stop the vehicle and increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Volkswagen dealer will update the engine control module (ECM) software. The recall began March 2016. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-822-8987. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 23R1.

Additional source detail variants (2)

Engine And Engine Cooling:engine

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain model year 2015-2016 Jetta, Beetle, Beetle Convertible, Passat, Golf and Golf SportWagen vehicles. In the affected vehicles, the camshaft lobe that drives the brake vacuum pump may shear off, resulting in a loss of brake assist.

Consequence: If the camshaft lobe shears off there would be a loss of brake assist, lengthening the distance needed to stop the vehicle and increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Volkswagen dealer will update the engine control module (ECM) software. The recall began March 2016. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-822-8987. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 23R1.

Service Brakes, Hydraulic:power Assist:vacuum

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain model year 2015-2016 Jetta, Beetle, Beetle Convertible, Passat, Golf and Golf SportWagen vehicles. In the affected vehicles, the camshaft lobe that drives the brake vacuum pump may shear off, resulting in a loss of brake assist.

Consequence: If the camshaft lobe shears off there would be a loss of brake assist, lengthening the distance needed to stop the vehicle and increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Volkswagen dealer will update the engine control module (ECM) software. The recall began March 2016. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-822-8987. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 23R1.

15V373000 · Service Brakes, Hydraulic:foundation Components:hoses, Lines/piping, And Fittings

Jun 15, 2015

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain model year 2015 Passat vehicles manufactured May 18, 2015, to May 21, 2015. The affected vehicles have a brake line at the left rear wheel area that may not have been properly tightened.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: If the brake line was not properly tightened, it may leak brake fluid, causing a reduction in braking performance, lengthening the distance needed to stop the vehicle and increasing the risk of crash.

Remedy: Volkswagen has notified owners, and dealers will tighten the brake line fitting, free of charge. The recall began on June 11, 2015. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-822-8987. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 47M3.

15V028000 · Fuel System, Gasoline:fuel Injection System:fuel Rail

Jan 23, 2015

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain model year 2014-2015 Jetta vehicles manufactured March 28, 2014, to November 24, 2014, 2014-2015 Passat vehicles manufactured April 7, 2014, to November 18, 2014, 2015 Golf and GTI vehicles manufactured July 1, 2014, to November 20, 2014, and 2014-2015 Beetle and Beetle Convertible vehicles manufactured March 31, 2014, to November 27, 2014. A sealing cap at the fuel rail may fail, allowing fuel to leak into the engine compartment.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: A fuel leak, in the presence of an ignition source, can result in a vehicle fire.

Remedy: Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will replace the fuel rails with new parts, free of charge. The recall began February 6, 2015. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-822-8987. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 24BL. Note: This recall expands and supersedes recall 14V-809 (Volkswagen recall number 24Bi) and only affects vehicles not previously repaired under that campaign.

14V670000 · Seats

Oct 24, 2014

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain model year 2015 Volkswagen Jetta and Passat vehicles manufactured September 23, 2014, to October 9, 2014, and equipped with manual front seatback recliners. In the affected vehicles, the seatback recliner retaining bracket may not engage correctly, resulting in unexpected movement of the seatback.

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: Unexpected movement of the driver's seatback may distract the driver, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the assembly of the seatback recliner retaining bracket, correcting it as necessary, free of charge. The recall began in October 2014. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 72F1.

Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗

NHTSA investigations

0

No exact-year investigations in this snapshot.