2006 Passat Brake Failure Questions?

I own a 2006 VW Passat 2.0T. Today, as my wife was parking with the baby in the back seat, the brakes suddenly failed completely and she smacked into the car in front of her and it into the car in front of it.

Luckily no one was in those cars and my wife and baby are okay. She then filed a police report and had the roadside assistance pick it up and take it to the service center.

The questions are...

If there is a brake defect, will VW service office be straight forward in telling us the truth?

Will they (VW) cover the damages caused by this fault?

Now I know about the late 2006 recall and we had that fixed but geez, it's a good thing she wasn't on the highway!

Anyone know anything about this situation?

As of yesterday, VW mechanics could not duplicate the problem and could not find a mechanical or computer error. However, my car model was recalled by VW in 12/06 and supposedly fixed a power brake issue. Of course yesterday they told me that it was also recalled just yesterday for a software update.

Means nothing I guess...and they've road tested it again. By the way, had my wife floored the gas, with the 2.0T engine, it would have been far worse. Witnesses saw her screaming and looking down before the accident, trying to figure out what was happening. VW consumer affairs, is also investigating the issue and the dealers service levels.

CALL THE SERVICE MANAGER AND TALK WITH HIM AND IF YOU DON鈥橳 GET ANYWHERE ASK FOR THE AREA ZONE MANAGER.

THE VEHICLE IS TOO NEW TO HAVE THIS TYPE OF CRITICAL FAILURE, ALSO CHECK WITH NATIONAL HIGHWAY AND TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION.

YOU WILL ALSO NEED TO CONTACT THE VW CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT AS WELL.

I HAVE SEEN THIS BEFORE WHILE THE VEHICLE WAS UNDER WARRANTY AND YES IN SOME CASES THE DEALERSHIP WILL TRY AND SWEEP IT UNDER THE RUG, BUT IN MOST CASES THE MANUFACTURE WILL PICKUP THE COMPLETE BILL FOR THE CUSTOMER JUST TO MAKE SURE THAT HE OR SHE DOES NOT GET THE SERVICES OF AN ATTORNEY.

YOU WILL ALSO WANT TO MENTION THAT YOU ARE IN CONTACT WITH THE ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE ALSO JUST IN CASE THEY START GIVING YOU THE RUN AROUND.

You're getting a little ahead of yourself here, cowboy. First of all, the vehicle needs to be examined to determined why the brakes failed. Brakes don't fail just once, then magically fix themselves. If it's a mechanical failure, ie: broken part, fluid leak, etc. You're probably on your own. One failure doesn't constitute a defect. Your wife could have stepped on the gas instead of the brake, there could have been something between the brake pedal and the floor, causing the brake pedal to not move all the way. There's dozens of possibilities. For VW to cover your loss, you're going to have to prove the problem is widespread and that VW knew about it but did nothing to correct or notify service departments of the problem. In the meantime, your insurance is going to have to fix the car your wife hit. The burden of proof is on you to establish that it wasn't a simple mechanical failure or driver error that caused the collision.

I know nothing about your brake failure.

HOWEVER, I noticed that you'd said your baby was in the back seat. Please replace the baby's car seat, insurance should cover it. NHTSA & all carseat manufacturers have guidelines for replacing seats in an accident. If insurance balks, ask them to provide a written letter stating that they are certifying that your carseat will not fail should the vehicle the seat is installed in, is ever in another accident, while your child is harnessed in the seat.

Even if you do not notice any cracks or visible damage, does not mean that there is no damage to the seat itself, which could impact its performance in another accident.

Please visit www.car-seat.org if you have any questions on this topic.