Recall Register

2016 Volkswagen Passat: recalls and complaints

NHTSA lists 5 recall campaigns for the 2016 Volkswagen Passat. The newest campaign is 21V321000. NHTSA received the report on 5 May 2021. The NHTSA record gives the component Unknown or Other. NHTSA has 106 complaints on file for this model year.

The NHTSA recall file shows no do-not-drive advisory and no park-outside advisory on these campaigns.

This page cannot show if a recall applies to one vehicle. The NHTSA VIN lookup shows the unrepaired recalls of one vehicle.

Remedy of the newest campaign, 21V321000, in the NHTSA record

Volkswagen will repurchase the vehicles. Owner notification letters were mailed May 20, 2021. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 01F1.
NHTSA VIN lookup

Complaint information entered into NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation vehicle owner's complaint database is used with other data sources to identify safety issues that warrant investigation and to determine if a safety-related defect trend exists.

NHTSA publishes these words. Source: NHTSA Datasets and APIs, section Complaints, read on . Complaint file through . Recall file through .

Since the last update

No tracked figure of this page changed in a data update. What the log tracks

All updates to the register

Recall campaigns

5 campaigns, newest first. 754,176 units in total.

  • 21V321000Unknown or Other
  • 20V561000Unknown or Other
  • 19V389000Exterior Lighting / Headlights
  • 16V403000Fuel System, Gasoline / Fuel Injection System / Fuel Rail
  • 15V705000Engine and Engine Cooling / Engine

  1. 21V321000Received . 46 units.

    Unknown or Other

    Defect, in the NHTSA record
    Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2017 Touareg GP, Tiguan, Golf A6, E-Golf GP, CCF, 2016-2017 Passat GP, 2018-2019 Golf R GP, and 2018 Atlas vehicles. These internal-use vehicles were sold without confirmation that they were built to all applicable regulatory requirements and may have been modified prior to sale. As such, these vehicles may fail to comply with the requirements of various Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
    Consequence, in the NHTSA record
    Vehicles that do not meet all regulatory requirements may have an increased risk of injury, crash, or fire.
    Remedy, in the NHTSA record
    Volkswagen will repurchase the vehicles. Owner notification letters were mailed May 20, 2021. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 01F1.

    Report filed by Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.. Manufacturer campaign number 01F1. Owner notification date in the NHTSA record: .

  2. 20V561000Received . 23 units.

    Unknown or Other

    Defect, in the NHTSA record
    Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2018 Volkswagen Golf R and Atlas, 2017 Golf Alltrack and E-Golf and 2016-2018 Passat vehicles. These internal use vehicles were sold without confirmation that they were built to all applicable regulatory requirements and may have been modified prior to sale. As such, these vehicles may fail to comply with the requirements of various Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
    Consequence, in the NHTSA record
    Vehicles that do not meet all regulatory requirements may have an increased risk of a crash or injury to vehicle occupants.
    Remedy, in the NHTSA record
    Volkswagen will notify owners and will repurchase the vehicles. The recall began October 6, 2020. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 01E9.

    Report filed by Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.. Manufacturer campaign number 01E9. Owner notification date in the NHTSA record: .

  3. 19V389000Received . 662,185 units.

    Exterior Lighting / Headlights

    Defect, in the NHTSA record
    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, in the NHTSA record
    Without the blocking cap, the headlight aim can be adjusted out of specification, reducing visibility and increasing the risk of a crash.
    Remedy, in the NHTSA record
    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.

    Report filed by Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.. Manufacturer campaign number 94L9. Owner notification date in the NHTSA record: .

  4. 16V403000Received . 55 units.

    Fuel System, Gasoline / Fuel Injection System / Fuel Rail

    Defect, in the NHTSA record
    Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain model year 2016 Jetta vehicles manufactured October 31, 2015, to January 21, 2016, 2016 Passat vehicles, equipped with 1.8T engines manufactured November 13, 2015, to December 9, 2015, and 2016 Golf vehicles manufactured November 5, 2015, to November 11, 2015. In the affected vehicles, the fuel rail may detach from the cylinder head and result in a fuel leak.
    Consequence, in the NHTSA record
    A fuel leak, in the presence of an ignition source, can result in a vehicle fire.
    Remedy, in the NHTSA record
    Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will replace the cylinder heads, free of charge. The manufacturer has not yet provided a notification schedule. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-822-8987. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 15F7.

    Report filed by Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.. Manufacturer campaign number 15F7. Owner notification date in the NHTSA record: .

  5. 15V705000Received . 91,867 units.

    Engine and Engine Cooling / Engine

    Defect, in the NHTSA record
    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, in the NHTSA record
    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, in the NHTSA record
    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.

    Report filed by Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.. Manufacturer campaign number 23R1. Owner notification date in the NHTSA record: .

The campaign number opens the NHTSA record. Each quotation is the text of the NHTSA recall file.

Recall campaign: One recall in the NHTSA recall file, with one campaign number. A campaign can name many makes, models and model years.

Units: The number of vehicles or products that a recall can include. The manufacturer or the firm reports the number to the agency.

Complaints by component

106 complaints, 179 component mentions.

A complaint can name more than one component. Each component that a complaint names is one component mention. The figure per 1,000 component mentions shows how many of each 1,000 mentions name the component.

  • 2016 Volkswagen Passat
  • All 2016 vehicles
2016 Volkswagen Passat: complaints by component, per 1,000 component mentions
Component2016 PassatAll 2016 vehiclesPassat, all yearsMentions
Air Bags139.742.5158.425
Electrical System122.9116.2118.622
Steering106.166.355.619
Engine951716117
Service Brakes83.854.217.315
Fuel/Propulsion System83.842.944.715
Unknown or Other72.6110.238.113
Vehicle Speed Control61.534.223.111
Forward Collision Avoidance39.17.747
Power Train27.9127.547.65

The table shows the 10 components with the most mentions, of 23.

Complaints that report a crash
4
Complaints that report a fire
0
Injuries in the complaints
3
Deaths in the complaints
0
Date of the newest complaint
3 May 2026

These figures are the entries of the persons who sent the complaints.

Complaint: A report about a possible safety problem that a person sends to NHTSA. This site shows the number of complaints and not their text.

Complaints about the 2016 Volkswagen Passat, by the year NHTSA received them. The largest year is 2018, with 16 complaints.

Investigations

The NHTSA investigation file has no investigation that names this model year.

Investigation: A study of a possible safety defect by the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation. An investigation with no closing date in the NHTSA file is open.

Other model years

The number under each year is the number of recall campaigns.

  1. 19881
  2. 19891
  3. 19902
  4. 19911
  5. 19921
  6. 19933
  7. 19941
  8. 19951
  9. 19961
  10. 19970
  11. 19984
  12. 19995
  13. 20003
  14. 20013
  15. 20023
  16. 20036
  17. 20043
  18. 20053
  19. 20067
  20. 20077
  21. 20084
  22. 20094
  23. 20104
  24. 20110
  25. 201211
  26. 20139
  27. 201410
  28. 20157
  29. 20165
  30. 20177
  31. 20184
  32. 20191
  33. 20203
  34. 20211
  35. 20220

A year without a link has fewer than 2 campaigns and fewer than 25 complaints. It has no page.

Official channels

Cite this page

Recall Register. 2016 Volkswagen Passat: recalls and complaints. https://recallregister.com/vehicle/volkswagen/passat/2016/. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, recall, complaint and investigation files. Data through .

Sources

Source
NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Licence
US government work, public domain
Recall file through
30 Sep 2026
Complaint file through
30 Sep 2026
First complaint in the file
1 Jan 1995
Manufacturer in the recall file
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.

The NHTSA record is the authority. A complaint count is the number of different complaint numbers for the make, the model and the model year. How the register is made. Report an error.

Questions

How many units are in the recall campaigns for the 2016 Volkswagen Passat?
754,176 units in 5 campaigns. A campaign can name other models and model years, and its units include them.
How many recall campaigns does the Volkswagen Passat have for all model years?
NHTSA lists 54 recall campaigns for the Volkswagen Passat, model years 1988 to 2022. 5 of them name the 2016 model year.
Which component do the complaints about the 2016 Volkswagen Passat name most often?
Air Bags: 25 of 179 component mentions, or 139.7 per 1,000. For all 2016 vehicles the figure is 42.5 per 1,000.
Is an NHTSA investigation of the 2016 Volkswagen Passat open?
The NHTSA investigation file has no investigation that names this model year.