2015 Volkswagen Passat Engine Problems

The contact owns a 2015 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the vehicle sputtered intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed the vehicle and determined that fuel was leaking into the engine compartment, causing engine failure. The contact stated that the dealer had repaired the vehicle and possibly cleaned the engine. The dealer had informed the contact that the engine would last 4-6 months before complete engine failure. The vehicle was returned to the contact; however, while driving approximately 35 MPH, the vehicle sputtered and then lost power. The vehicle was restarted after several attempts to continue driving. The vehicle was returned to the dealer but was not repaired. The dealer suggested that a new vehicle be purchased. The contact searched online and became aware of NHTSA Campaign Number: 15V028000 (Fuel System, Gasoline); however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and confirmed that the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was unknown.

NHTSA ID

11715795

Incident

Jul 5, 2024

My vehicle is a MY2015 Passat TDI SEL with the EA288 (CVCA) diesel engine. Water Pump Failure Occurred at 99488 miles. Leaking coolant from underneath the engine and the expansion tank bottle became empty. Vehicle was parked after a quick 8 min drive to work from home in the morning (~8:45AM) and when I came back at 12PM around 1 quart of coolant had leaked out. Luckily I was not on the freeway or driving the vehicle where it would ride on its torque curve increasing probability of catastrophic failures even after there are usually software induced engine protection derates in place. Official service interval for water pump and timing belt on this engine is 130000 miles but there have been numerous field incidents of pre-mature water pump failures which can be very expensive to fix (~2500 USD). Volkswagen/Audi already have a class action lawsuit against them on their 2.0 TFSI (EA888) water pump failures and I'm wondering why their MY2015 2.0 TDI (EA288) diesel engine has not been investigated for the same. This engine was only available in certain MY2015 VW/Audi vehicles but just because the cumulative number of vehicles with this engine are lower does not mean that it shouldn't be investigated for a very similar manufacturing/design defect of the water pump. I would strongly urge NHTSA to do a similar investigation on this 2.0 TDI engine and hold the manufacturer accountable.

NHTSA ID

11693419

Incident

Oct 8, 2025

Subject: Request for VIN Review and Recall Inclusion – Camshaft/Vacuum Pump Failure (Recall 23R1) Dear Volkswagen Customer Care / NHTSA Representative, I am writing to formally request a manual review of my vehicle’s VIN in relation to Recall 23R1, which addresses camshaft lobe interference with the brake vacuum pump in certain 2015 Volkswagen Passat models. My vehicle, a 2015 Passat, recently experienced a failure of the brake vacuum pump, which required replacement. Upon inspection, it was determined that the camshaft was interfering with the pump, consistent with the failure mode described in Recall 23R1. Despite this, my VIN does not currently show an open recall. Given the alignment of symptoms, including camshaft-related damage and vacuum pump failure, I believe my vehicle should be included in the scope of this recall. I am requesting: - A manual review of my VIN and production batch - Consideration for inclusion in Recall 23R1 - Reimbursement or goodwill support for the repair costs already incurred I have documentation of the repair and am happy to provide technician notes that confirm the nature of the failure. I appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to your response.

NHTSA ID

11682736

Incident

Nov 17, 2022

Subject: Request for VIN Review and Recall Inclusion – Camshaft/Vacuum Pump Failure (Recall 23R1) Dear Volkswagen Customer Care / NHTSA Representative, I am writing to formally request a manual review of my vehicle’s VIN in relation to Recall 23R1, which addresses camshaft lobe interference with the brake vacuum pump in certain 2015 Volkswagen Passat models. My vehicle, a 2015 Passat, recently experienced a failure of the **brake vacuum pump**, which required replacement. Upon inspection, it was determined that the **camshaft was interfering with the pump**, consistent with the failure mode described in Recall 23R1. Despite this, my VIN does not currently show an open recall. Given the alignment of symptoms—including camshaft-related damage and vacuum pump failure—I believe my vehicle should be included in the scope of this recall. I am requesting: - A manual review of my VIN and production batch - Consideration for inclusion in Recall 23R1 - Reimbursement or goodwill support for the repair costs already incurred I have documentation of the repair and am happy to provide technician notes that confirm the nature of the failure. I appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to your response.

NHTSA ID

11682734

Incident

Nov 22, 2022

2015 Passat TDI sudden complete power loss while driving, including highway incidents. Vehicle stalls with no warning, creating immediate safety hazard. Symptoms match documented crankshaft position sensor failures in identical vehicles that VW has repaired under warranty for other owners. VW Customer Care closed case requiring 'duplication' of safety defect before repair. Request immediate safety investigation. I am reporting today's incident however this issue has been occuring since May 1st and occurred on numerous occasions with today being the most unsafe.

NHTSA ID

11671727

Incident

Jul 7, 2025

Gas and Oil comsumption is way too high … Almost every 600-1000 the low oil lights turns on! Check engine on almost all the time due to an error with the oxígen sensor. EPC light gets on very frequently and the car loses speed. Also vehicle has a constant rattlesnake sound when speed is low. Issue was reported some years ago to a local VW dealership in Georgia but they never took care of the issue. Ongoing for a couple of years!. No additional details

NHTSA ID

11610716

Incident

Aug 25, 2024

The contact owns a 2015 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed and veering to the left, the vehicle stalled. The battery warning light was illuminated. A towing service performed a diagnostic test on the vehicle and informed the contact that the failure was not related to the battery and the alternator. The contact drove the vehicle to the residence. The contact stated that the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed. The dealer replaced the battery and serviced the cooling system; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, where the contact was informed that the fuel pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 70,300.

NHTSA ID

11578405

Incident

Mar 11, 2024

Mileage

70,300 mi

After having the government approved and MANDATED Phase 1 and 2 Dieselgate fixes performed on my VW Passat TDI it has randomly lost power and or stalled while at highway speeds at least 6 times. The last time my 16 year old son was left stranded in the middle of a busy four lane highway narrowly avoiding being hit and seriously injured and/or killed. Apparently there are thousands of these cases (a class action lawsuit filed in 2018) on the road. Why haven't I been notified? This mandatory fix is much more dangerous then the original issue it seeks to address. From what I understand, the fix is causing the DPF regeneration sequence to occur much more often and much hotter, thereby cooking/melting/boiling the entire cooling system and shutting the engine down without warning. My vehicle has been in the service dept of VW for over 6 months (this last time) because they cannot figure how to fix it permanently. VW Corporate is very aware of the situation and has fed me a bunch of [XXXX] not even a child would believe and has refused my suggestion to self report the problems to NTHSA and CARB. If the cars are not taken off the road this issue will definitely (if not already) result in major injuries and likely death. I have done my duty notifying this government agency and now if a tragedy occurs there will have been actual notice as required by the law. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ID

11545217

Incident

Sep 18, 2023

While driving the EPC light came on and the car stopped driving. Vehicle was towed to local VW dealership, a FULL engine rebuild took place and a faulty intake valve spring was found, after replacing the injectors and seal kits. Then to replace the faulty electronic ignition switch. Over $3k in repairs for faulty parts. It was a safety risk because the vehicle stopped working in the middle of driving, in traffic with no other indication that something was wrong prior on a major road in the city. Since then, the vehicle has had constant issues with oil being low even after an oil change, no leaks were detected or reported. Also, the airbags and clockspring was supposed to be replaced. My airbag light came on in 3/2023 and it sounds like the clock spring is broken. Horn and electronics do not work from the steering column.

NHTSA ID

11545030

Incident

Sep 19, 2019

I have no heat on the passenger side of the vehicle from any of the vents. The windshield would ice up due to this. The drivers side works fine. This car does not have Climatronic. It has manual controls. I have been told the heater core is clogging by my mechanic. This is a 2015. VW extended the warranty for 2012-14 Passat TDI's with the CKRA engine however this is a 2015 with the CVCA TDI engine. Is there any extended coverage for this generation engine? I don't want this to develop into a larger issue with deficient EGR cooling problems. The heater core in the 2015 is the same part number used in previous model years which are covered by the recall.

NHTSA ID

11523682

Incident

Mar 20, 2023

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 ID

11508188

Incident

Feb 19, 2023

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 ID

11504919

Incident

Jan 17, 2023

Mileage

113,000 mi

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 ID

11492331

Incident

Oct 14, 2022

Mileage

79,000 mi

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 ID

11462816

Incident

Apr 29, 2022

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 ID

11435975

Incident

Sep 29, 2021

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 ID

11435204

Incident

Oct 2, 2021

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 ID

11434542

Incident

Sep 18, 2021

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 ID

11427545

Incident

May 4, 2021

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

NHTSA ID

11389644

Incident

Aug 1, 2019

Mileage

160,000 mi

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 ID

11388301

Incident

Jan 15, 2021

THE EPA & CARB REQUIRED MODIFICATIONS TO MY DIESEL VEHICLE THAT ON READING THE TECHNICAL DETAILS IN THE REQUIRED PAPERWORK, MY VEHICLE ACTUALLY POLLUTES SLIGHTLY MORE AFTER THE FIX! LESS MILEAGE, LESS POWER, POLLUTES SLIGHTLY MORE. CONTACTED EPA & CARB MANY TIMES TO ASK THEM TO EXPLAIN THE EMISSIONS AFTER THEIR 'FIX,' NEVER RETURNED EMAIL OR CALL. NOTING OTHER CAR MAKERS USING THE SAME ENGINE CONTROL UNIT FROM BOSCHE, THOSE CARS WERE EITHER MADE EXEMPT OR GIVEN A SOFTWARE FIX (NO HARDWARE MODIFICATIONS LIKE VW). IT SEEMS LIKE VW DRIVERS ARE BEING PUNISHED BECAUSE VW LIED. OTHER CAR MAKERS WHO GOT CAUGHT (ALL BOSCHE EDC17 ENGINE COMPUTERS), ADMITTED TO EPA AND JUST PAID THE FINES IMMEDIATELY TO EPA, UNLIKE VW. REALLY, IT SEEMS LIKE EPA AND CARB ARE PUNISHING THE END CONSUMER BECAUSE VW LIED. I GET 300 TO 400 FEWER MILES A TANK, SLIGHTLY WORSE EMISSIONS... WHAT GIVES? GOOD FOR FUEL TAX THOUGH. WOULD LIKE AN INVESTIGATION INTO CORRUPTION OF CARB AND EPA AS IT SEEMS THE SECOND TDI FIX IS FOR GOVERNMENT / CALIFORNIA EGO. PLEASE REFERENCE PAGE 8 OF THE ATTACHED PDF AND LOOK AT ALL THE EMISSIONS, WHY DID CARB JOIN SOME OF THE MEASUREMENTS TOGETHER? WHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO HIDE? SIMPLE MATH WILL SHOW YOU THAT THE NEW MEASUREMENTS EQUAL THE OLD FEDERAL NUMBERS ONCE YOU JOIN THE SAME MEASUREMENTS TOGETHER. WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED? MY CAR PERFORMS WORSE AT 300 LESS MILES A TANK. YEP, LOOKING WHOLISTICALLY, 300 MILES LESS PER TANK IS ACTUALLY WORSE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT YET GREAT FOR FUEL TAX! *TR

NHTSA ID

11325500

Incident

Jan 1, 2019

Mileage

45,000 mi

I WAS DRIVING ON FLAT PAVED ROAD AT SPEED OF 25-30 MPH WHEN SUDDENLY THE RPM SURGED FROM 1 TO 4, ENGINE REVVED, MADE LOUD HIGH PITCH WHINE FOR SEVERAL MINS. I WAS NOT ACCELERATING, ONLY FOLLOWING ANOTHER VEHICLE AHEAD. I WAS GOING TO PULL OFF THE ROAD AND TURN OFF THE IGNITION, WHEN THIS STOPPED & CONTINUED DRIVING NORMALLY AND NOTED THE RPM WAS BACK TO NEAR 1. NO PANEL OR ENGINE LIGHTS CAME ON.

NHTSA ID

11288973

Incident

Dec 13, 2019

Mileage

40,000 mi

TRANSMISSION LEAKING MAJOR CAR RANDOMLY SHUT OFF WHILE IN DRIVE WHILE STOPPED IN TRAFFIC ROUGH IDLING. CAN CAUSE AN ACCIDENT IF THERE'S BUSY TRAFFIC ON MAJOR SIDE STREET AND YOU NOT PAYING ATTENTION

NHTSA ID

11282008

Incident

Nov 18, 2019

Mileage

82,000 mi

HEATER NOT HEATING AS SHOULD. HEATER CORE SEEMS TO PLUGGED, SIMILAR TO TSB 80-15-04 ON EARLIER MODELS. VW DOES NOT HAVE A TSB OR CAMPAIGN TO ADDRESS. THIS COULD IMPACT VISIBILITY IN THE WINTER TIME.

NHTSA ID

11281891

Incident

Nov 21, 2019

CAR LOST POWER WHILE DRIVING. ALMOST CAUSED CRASH, AS I WAS ACCELERATING AND SUDDEN LOSS OF POWER WITH CARS COMING. CAR WOULD NOT REV OVER 2K RPM, AND TOOK ABOUT 2 MINUTES TO GET TO 45MPH. DEALER DIAGNOSED CAR AND SAID HIGH PRESSURE FUEL PUMP WAS BAD. THEY CHANGED THAT, FUEL FILTER, AND CLEANED DIESEL TANK.

NHTSA ID

11255513

Incident

Mar 9, 2019

Mileage

70,000 mi