Volkswagen, Volkswagen Of America, Volkswagen Group Of America, vw.com Broken Brake Caliper Bolt costs $500 to replace! Herndon Virginia

While performing regular maintenance on our 2006 Passat 3.6L Sport, the head of the brake caliper bolt sheared off. We visited the service department to purchase a replacement & were told that we had to purchase a complete new caliper! So a bolt that doesn't even cost 50 cents will cost us alsmot $500 to replace! I know the service department wouldn't replace an entire working brake caliper if one bolt broke. This is a scam! (you wouldn't replace your TV because the remote was broken)

This is just one more problem that we have had with this car. Its full of electrical problems. The car is loaded with luxury features that only work about half the time. The electronic parking brake fails frequently & gives an error message. The HID headlights will sometimes stop working at random. The dash will state the bulb is faulty, but it will work just fine the following day. The headlight issue started after VW performed recall work, but they can never duplicate the issue. The door lock buttons have bubble up. VW is aware of the problem, but will not replace them all even thought the car is under warranty and its a known issue to VW. My bet is they are waiting on the warranty to expire. The auto up & down features on the windows work intermittently. Front & rear bumper sensors do not work properly. Leather started flaking from seats around 25k miles, but they wouldn't repair. They used something similar to shoe polish to "fix" the problem which wore off very quickly & now looks terrible. The rear window shade has broken for the 3rd time now. The finish is flaking off many of the interior trim panels.

I could go on & on about the issues with this car. After searching the internet, it seems I am not the only one having these same issues. My wife & I were considering upgrading to the CC thinking that many of the problems we had with our car were because it was the first of the new body style or maybe we just had a lemon. After finding out that a simple bolt would cost us almost $500 to replace, I will NEVER OWN ANOTHER VW!!! Too bad since I purchase a new car about every 2 years or so. I have had much better luck with Fords that cost half the price & their service is better too!

k
charlotte, North Carolina
U.S.A.