2016 Volkswagen Passat

I started my vehicle and the airbag light was on. Also the adaptive cruise control warning light was on and none of my steering wheel controls work. Not even the horn works. This is a huge safety issue that Volkswagen is aware of based on a past recall. There are no open recalls for my vehicle for this problem but there should be! I cannot even drive my car now because It’s not safe with no working horn or airbag! I researched online what the problem could be and several Volkswagen owners have the EXACT SAME issue. Apparently it’s the clock spring? I am not aware of Volkswagen offering to fix this major issue for their customers.

On October 3rd, 2021 the minder to change oil service came on and a wrench in the display. As the mechanic had set the incorrect timing interval between services, I went into the menu to attempt to reset the service minder but never got that far as the airbag light came on and all buttons on the steering wheel stopped responding. My husband in the passenger seat instructed me to restart the car and this did not reset any warnings but also showed the ACC: Error, in the display alternating with the Airbag: Error. The dealership wants $ 165 just to plug in the diagnostic reader and won't apply it to a repair and says this car has no open recalls which I am aware of. However, there was an airbag recall including the 2015 year build Passat, but the dealership wants payment to diagnose. When the car is stirred to make a 90 degree left hand turn I can hear a coil in the steering wheel cracking at times. Frequently, the airbag light for the passenger scale stays on but may go out if someone goes to sit in the passenger seat. All seat belts are unlocked at the top, and the receivers for the buckles look fine and nothing is stuck in them. I have not yet lifted the seats to inspect the harnesses but I doubt I will be able to fix anything as I cannot reset the codes anyhow. Not being able to change the information on the instrument panel from useless Error Messages is distracting. Tell VW to read an airbag fault light for free! This is a safety concern for every passenger and should not be taken advantage of to make a service department money. How can I find out if this model was added to the air bag recalls or is in the process of being added? Honda has a lifetime warranty service for free on all safety restraints. I am surprised that VW does not make safety their highest priority. I'm not certain the Forward Collision Warning is affected but the lanes blink Orange showing me the ACC is not responsive and it's close enough in function to mention just in case it may not work.

I started my car and it showed up with “airbag error” I then turned off my car and started it again and something along the lines of “front lane assist error” showed up, there was also a clicking noise from my steering wheel anytime I would turn the wheel, the car also was “breakchecking” me (aggressively breaking when barely any pressure applied) when I was trying to drive home and the digital speedometer is no longer showing up on my dash board. I was only able to get a picture of the “airbag error” message

I WAS DRIVING MY CAR ON SURFACE STREETS AND WHEN MAKING TURNS I STARTED TO HEAR CLICKING NOISES. NEXT TIME I TURNED ON MY CAR AND WENT TO PULL OUT, AN AIRBAG WARNING APPEARED AS WELL AS THE SYMBOL, AND I LOST ALL USE OF MY STEERING WHEEL CONTROLS AS WELL AS MY HORN. IT SEEMS TO BE A FAULTY CLOCK SPRING WHICH IS A REPORTED PROBLEM THAT HAS BEEN INVESTIGATED BUT NOT WITH MY 2016. THE CAR IS ONLY 5 YEARS OLD AND SHOULDN'T BE HAVING THESE ISSUES THAT I HAVE TO REPAIR OUT OF POCKET.

STEERING WHEEL BEGAN TO CLICK WHEN TURNING ANY DIRECTION MID-TRIP. VEHICLE WAS IN MOTION AND HAD BEEN IN MOTION FOR APPROX 30 MINUTES WHEN ISSUE BEGAN. ALL STEERING WHEEL BUTTONS, INCLUDING CRUISE CONTROL, NO LONGER WORKED. AIR BAG MALFUNCTION LIGHT ILLUMINATED. DEALER STATED CLOCK SPRING HAD MALFUNCTIONED, ISSUE WAS REPAIRED. NOTED THAT CRUISE CONTROL BUTTONS CONTINUED TO MALFUNCTION POST-REPAIR DEALER CLAIMS 'COINCIDENCE' WITH MALFUNCTION, PUTTING COST ON CUSTOMER TO REPAIR. .