Steering Column Lock for 2006 Passat

[bonbon]

Here's the update: I sent the car to the dealer. They replaced the steering column and steering module, all covered by warranty. They provided me a rental (Chevy Aveo), which made me appreciate the Passat so much more. As this seems to be a common problem on 2006 model, I'd advise anyone who's driving it and still has the warranty, to go to the dealer and run the codes. This issue is covered by a TSB, here: http://geocities.com/nfe100/Te...t.pdf

[xfoo777]

Yes, this was definitely something I was glad was done under warranty too. I asked how much money a steering column replace would otherwise be without warranty, and was assured it would be ugly.

[Pelican18TQA4]

We are having the same problem with out '06 Passat at 55,000 miles. At first it only occurred once or twice, but then when it started happening frequently we took it to the dealer. Diagnosis? Steering Column Lock needs to be replaced to the tune of $1,600. This is honestly ridiculous and I haven't been more disappointed in VW in a very long time...and I have a VW tattoo for crying out loud! My mom wants to trade the car on a Honda or Toyota because she's sick of all the problems (this, after a long history with VW going back to the original Beetle). And honestly, after all the problems she's had with her B6, she probably should!

UPDATE: VW took care of the parts cost and split the labor costs. Not bad considering the car is out of warranty.


Modified by Pelican18TQA4 at 9:37 PM 3-4-2009

[Mr. Chan]

Quote, originally posted by chadcronin »

Battery as well...

Wasn't the battery after all... Had this done today. They even matched the original codeing on the CCM so I didn't have to recode for windows via remote etc.
47000 miles. I guess it was in the nick of time.


Modified by chadcronin at 9:22 PM 3-4-2009

[WOLFBURGSFINEST]

45,000 miles replaced under warranty.

[weber20t]

Add another one to the list! Just turned 50,000 this week. I had just been noticing the the steering lock sounded like it was getting louder. Then this morning in the garage, it took 4 times to get it to start and stay running. Then at work, it took 5+ times to get it to stay running. I drove it straight to the dealer. Asked the service writer if he had seen this before. He said, yes, and that he had the parts in stock. Also asked me to bring by the other key so they can be reprogrammed. I think VW has a big problem on their hands with this.

[babsjohnson]

Just recording yet another one to the list....as noted before, its not limited to the 2006 models. Mine was replaced at 24k but of course so has many of the other parts as well. Lets call it a 2007-8-9 model.

[WOLFBURGSFINEST]

Just replying to the comment about VW having a big problem on there hands.... The new column and control box they are replacing the problematic ones are a new design. So yes they do know they have a problem. Just FYI for anyone that has warranty still they should take there car to the dealership and tell them that they are experiencing this problem and they will fix it. Regardless if you are or are not. Sounds shady but when your warranty is up and it starts to act up. Well Sorry.

[whogotz]

damn! i am out of warranty. almost 70k on the odometer and now i am having this problem too.

[dhambrick]

Talk tot he Service Manager.

They will at least split the cost with you...

[B6 Boost]

I had a 2006 that had this problem and it was replaced under warranty by the dealership.

I recently purchased a 2008 Passat and the same thing happened 2 months ago and the car only had 8,000 miles on it.

Good thing both times it was replaced under warranty. Sorry for anyone who has had to replace it out of warranty, I know it is a very expensive repair.

I am seeing this topic more and more and it looks like something VW should address!

[weber20t]

So much for the comment that there is a new design. Unless they were still using the old parts in the production runs.

[TRG BO]

So is this a repair that only the dealership can do. I have an 07 with 70k( I Commute) and this is happenening to my car. The dealer is gonna charge me 1350. I was just wondering if anyone ever went to an outside auto shop or if only the dealer can do this. Thanks

[TRG BO]

I also just found out that my car is under its certified preloved warranty(i bought it with 10,000 miles) which doesnt expire until 24,000 after my factory warranty. Would this repair be covered under that warranty. Thanks for all the help I have called the dealer yet i am waiting for a response.

[dualb6er]

Got got this stearing lock message today. I noticed when i pulled into my daughters school to drop her off that the stearing was heavy. didn't notice the message. then got in my car drove down the road a bit and flashing indicator light in the dash going off, so i pulled over took the key out and message went away. should I take this into the dealer to have it looked at?

[dualb6er]

what a pain in the ass this is going to be. Stealer said part could take up to a week. they recommend I leave it with them so i'm not stranded somewhere. now i'm going to have to drive some POS rental car!

[paul909]

I have had the same promlem with my late 2005 Passat.. "Faulty steering lock, contact garage" message comes up and flashing light on my dash board computer.

I have spoken to VW HQ who say they know nothing of this problem and Northern ireland VW also say this is not a big problem eventhough the service dept told me they have just fixed 3 cars this week for this very same problem.
My car has 38K Miles and just out of warranty... what can I do about this?
There seems to be a design flaw with the steering column or steering lock...

Thanks

ps. if anyone can help please contact me

[mkicpok]

It is covered under the used certified warranty. I'm having it fixed next week on my 94000km car. I'm still driving it around until parts arrive. They mentioned 2 control modules, but I have read the whole steering column has to be replaced as well. Interesting design. At the dealership there were not advising me to leave it parked until the fix is done. There is anoccassional problem when starting the car up. It confuses the hell of my wife who doens't notice the engine is off and when she is in D-drive, the key is stuck as well.

[dualb6er]

My car is in right now getting this fixed, the dealer said they had all the parts in stock because they see alot of these on both the 2.0 and 3.6.

[dualb6er]

my service writer just called and said VOA doesn't want them to put in the new column and module because it isn't showing any faults at this time. the service writer told them We need to replace the units because the customer will be back in a week, or a month, or a year but he will be back for this and they are fighting him on it. Frickin crazy.

[mkicpok]

this is how they fixed it:
- Replace faulty steering control module ( included with new steering column ) 1.8 TU
- Replace comfort control module ( to match up with steering column ) 1 TU
- Erase all fault codes and recheck, now OK.
Parts:
1x 3C1 419 501 N STEER COLUMN
1x 3C0 959 433 N Control Unit
3x N 907 750 01 Bolt

[aa327]

Had same problem at 38000km. on a 2006 Passat turbo 2.0 c/w luxury package c/w xenon lighting.

Identified issue as a warranty issue and VW picked up the complete change out of the modules including the total resetting of the software settings for the communications between the modules, immobilizer, "chipped" key modules as well as providing a rental car for 3 days at their cost whilst they had my Passat.

Not to be a whiner but I seem to be the recipient of an auto that has a lot of (luckily) failures covered by warranty and assisted by an excellent customer service department which I am using.

1.0 Light seals leaking for xenon lighting.
2.0 Turbo system failure.
3.0 Windshield wiper motor changout as per VW but resulted in the
dealership cracked the cowling. They replaced, no questions asked
4.0 Trunk oleo not working after 2 winters caused by a leak of the
inert gas from the piston. Only a problem when temp below -5C
5.0 Software upgrades required by VW.
6.0 Front disks and rotors (my cost) at 38K (seems early but....)
7.0 MIL light indicating engine failure (3 times) diagnostics led to
software changes as well as the turbo feature repair.
8.0 Most recent issue related to left front wheel bearing that is to be
replaced next week. ( I found the issue has hit other VW's
according to the VWVortex user community which led me to this
site)

All this reminds me of the old kids ditty.......Her I sit broken hearted, paid for a .....ta-da, ta-da, ta-da.......

DGT.......

[type17volkswagen]

Anyone ever capture the codes on this when it happened? I got the message just once and found the following. I'm just wondering if it's related. I'm not sure it is since they show up under the immobilizer. Seems like they would show up under steering...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 25: Immobilizer Labels: 3C0-959-433-25.lbl
Part No SW: 3C0 959 433 C HW: 3C0 959 433 C
Component: IMMO 041 0364
Revision: 00041000 Serial number: VWZCZ000000000
Shop #: WSC 131071 1023 2097151

Part No: 3C0 905 861 D
Component: ELV 024 0370
3C0905861D ELV 024 0370

2 Faults Found:
02861 - Electronic Steering Column Lock Check Sum Error
008 - Implausible Signal - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00101000
Fault Priority: 4
Fault Frequency: 1
Reset counter: 25
Mileage: 60851 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2009.04.22
Time: 09:30:22

02811 - Control Module for Electronic Steering Column Lock (J764)
014 - Defective - Intermittent
Freeze Frame:
Fault Status: 00101110
Fault Priority: 1
Fault Frequency: 2
Reset counter: 28
Mileage: 60851 km
Time Indication: 0
Date: 2009.04.22
Time: 09:30:23

[type17volkswagen]

All's I can say is that when this went, it went quick. First time I noticed it was on a Wednesday and by Monday it was nearly every start. They replaced the parts shown in the post above. I'm wondering though, is the steering column lock and integrated control module a new and improved part? How can you find out if it's a newer revision?

This is what was installed, but I don't know the part number that was removed...

3C1 419 501 N STEER COLUMN

Obviously I'm hoping it's new and improved so two years from now it's not going out again when the warranty is up.

[whogotz]

i am PRAYING that i am not jinxing myself by posting this but...........................i have not had a problem starting my car in weeks now.

no trips to the dealer, only one CEL that cleared itself too.

[Massaudi]

2008 with 700 miles and column warning. Vehicle at shop for inspection.

[DasCC]

2006 2.0T 46,000 miles. Had the error message pop up turned off car and when restarted it came off.

[gdoolittle]

yet another one here in california. it's my 2006 passat 3.6.

standard problem everyone else is having: first the problem was just not starting once in a while. this began a little over a month ago. what i mean is that when you push the ignition the car, the car revs up to about 1500 rpm, and then it dies. i didn't get the steering column lock error until about 2 weeks ago. recently it wouldn't start at all after about 50 tries(!!!), so i had to leave at work. i came back the next day and tried again and it worked, so i took it into the dealer immediately. they are telling me it needs a new column yada-yada....

the car is only 3 years old, but has 59K miles, so it's not covered by the warranty. they are charging me $1800!

my question to all of you, or any of you who are knowledgeable is this: at what point does this become a recall that VW will feel guilty enough to cover without charging the cost to the car owner? at what point will there be a class action lawsuit against VW for creating so many cars that are failing?

i am currently extremely bitter about VW in general, and will probably never buy another one, nor an Audi for that matter, since they are closely related. but this latest development has made me want to go around to everyone i know and warn them not to buy a VW.

BMW is looking pretty good to me right now...


Modified by gdoolittle at 4:23 PM 5-21-2009

[chetnovak]

Has anyone with a 2006 Passat had ignition switch problems? My son's leased Passat steering column lock won't allow the car to keep running after starting. He recently discovered if he leaves the "key" in the switch he no longer has the problem (hello car thief - come steal my car?). He has had numerous problems that all seem unrelated except they go back to a defective computer. Now VW expects him to pay $1,300 to replace it since they just now (outside of warranty of course) "discovered" the problem. He wants help to start a class action suit against VW. Is there anyone already pursuing this that we can join ???? chetnovak@hotmail.com

[gregfountain]

I have a 2008 Passat Wagon with 17K miles. On Monday, May 18th, I too received an error message that read "Steering Column Lock Malfunction. Not only could I not start the car, but I couldn't get the transmission out of "park," nor could I release the electronic parking brake. I had to manually "un-tilt" the sunroof. We had to disconnect the shift linkage at the transmission in order to get it in neutral, so it could be towed.

It is now at the dealer, waiting for a new steering column and module, that just happens to be on national back order. I asked the warranty rep the reason for the backorder and was told; "the part manufacturer just didn't make enough, but there is no wide-spread problem, like a recall campaign." That's funny because backorders are usually caused by high demand.

Anyway, just wanted to share this in case other with '08 Passat's have the same problem.


Modified by gregfountain at 1:18 PM 5-22-2009

[vwpassatjaxfl]

Wonderful...it appears that this problem is bound to eventually happen to EVERY B6 from 06-08...just a matter of time, and who is going to foot the bill. This sucks! There really should be a recall if there is infact a design defect. Anyway to force it to break???

[Mr. Chan]

Not enough parts manufactured is bull****. Mine took one day. They told me straight up that have been seeing a lot of these and as a result keep them in stock. I will say though that my dealer is awesome and takes every effort to minimize inconvenience when it comes to service.


Modified by chadcronin at 6:10 PM 5-22-2009

[swdoran11]

Hello: I have a 2006 VW Passat 3.6L with 62,000 miles (obviously out of factory warranty)

I took it in to the dealer after it was having what seems to be the same problems as everyone else below (starts and then kills right away severals times in a row before finally running)

The dealer told me I need Part #3ci-419-501N Steering Column which is $546.67 and Part # 3C0-959-433Q Control Module which is $394.21 and that labor would be $800 for a total of $1,750.00

Does anyone have any advice for me on how I could get VW to pay for (or help pay for this)? This is my 3rd VW Passat and I have always loved them but honestly don't think I could buy another one if I had to pay for this repair out of my pocket.

[type17volkswagen]

Quote, originally posted by swdoran11 »

...Does anyone have any advice for me on how I could get VW to pay for (or help pay for this)? This is my 3rd VW Passat and I have always loved them but honestly don't think I could buy another one if I had to pay for this repair out of my pocket.

You just said everything you need to say. Tell it to your Service Manager. Ask him/her to contact their regional factory rep and request a "goodwill" repair. Set the expectation that you'd like to see VW step up on this one and cover the entire repair. Chances are they're going to offer to cover half...

Oh and when you get the work done, save yourself a trip and take all your keys with you. They're going to need them all to sync them with the car.

[jcurrier]

Mine goes in tomorrow, TSB in hand. 58k miles but I got an extended warranty through the dealer so we'll see how it goes. If they won't cover it I'm trading it in on something else.