1995 Volkswagen Passat — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 138 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Electrical system17 (12.3%)Official recall records for this system: 5, covering model years 1996–2014.
• Brakes15 (10.9%)Official recall records for this system: 14, covering model years 1998–2018.
• Visibility (glass, wipers, mirrors)15 (10.9%)Official recall records for this system: 1, covering model years 2006–2007.
• Engine cooling11 (8.0%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 1995–1998.
• Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)11 (8.0%)Official recall records for this system: 4, covering model years 2012–2014.
• Heating & air conditioning10 (7.2%)

Other / uncategorized: 1 classifications (0.7%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

• Owner complaints (15,270 records, model years 1995–2022) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), engine and electrical system.
• Safety recalls (178 records, model years 1995–2021) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), fuel system and brakes.
• Transport Canada recalls (142 records, model years 1995–2020) are most frequently classified under: air bags (restraint system), brakes and fuel system.
• Manufacturer communications (17,694 records, model years 1995–2022) are most frequently classified under: equipment & accessories, electrical system and engine.
• Investigations (92 records, model years 1995–2014) are most frequently classified under: electrical system, air bags (restraint system) and fuel system.

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

1. 1995 126 records for 1995 126
2. 1996 187 records for 1996 187
3. 1997 126 records for 1997 126
4. 1998 461 records for 1998 461
5. 1999 804 records for 1999 804
6. 2000 717 records for 2000 717
7. 2001 649 records for 2001 649
8. 2002 871 records for 2002 871
9. 2003 864 records for 2003 864
10. 2004 524 records for 2004 524
11. 2005 419 records for 2005 419
12. 2006 1,111 records for 2006 1,111
13. 2007 818 records for 2007 818
14. 2008 797 records for 2008 797
15. 2009 905 records for 2009 905
16. 2010 1,006 records for 2010 1,006
17. 2012 2,075 records for 2012 2,075
18. 2013 2,361 records for 2013 2,361
19. 2014 2,180 records for 2014 2,180
20. 2015 1,382 records for 2015 1,382
21. 2016 940 records for 2016 940
22. 2017 793 records for 2017 793
23. 2018 653 records for 2018 653
24. 2019 543 records for 2019 543
25. 2020 468 records for 2020 468
26. 2021 360 records for 2021 360
27. 2022 274 records for 2022 274

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

• 3mention a crash
• 1mention a fire
• 3mention an injury

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

• Safety recalls NHTSA 1
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 28
• Investigations NHTSA 2
• Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 2
• Owner complaints NHTSA 93

Explore the underlying evidence records