Brett

04 1.8T 5spd Fresco Green Sedan
99.5 1.8T 5spd Satin Silver Wagon
95 Saturn SL1, 94 Toyota T-100, 87 VW Quantum, 87 Subaru GL-Turbo Sedan, 79 Datsun 210 Wagon, 76 Honda CB500 Super Sport, 75 Honda CB350

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever

Ctobio's co-worker/Vortex/2003 - Built Q4/2002/45,000

Any chance of narrowing that build date down to a specific month? It would be more meaningful for our database.

Quote, originally posted by ctobio »

Trying to get her to get back to me. It was an '03 purchased in Jan 03, so the build date will be Aug-Dec. I'm doing the best I can, but we're a little busy at the office.

What? Too busy to search for a build date?

Hey, no problem...I'll just wait add her car to the list. Whenever is fine!

User Name/Forum/Model Yr.-Build Date/Mileage at Failure

greg2step/Vortex/2003-Built?/33,500
mein_vw/Vortex/2003 - Built 11/2002/28,500
zermattfm/Vortex/2003 - Built?/unknown
mmaxwell2112/Vortex/2003 - Built 11/2002/35,000
brett1/Vortex/2003 - Built10/2002/27,000
chicago03vw/Vortex/2003 - Built?/21,600
jamesbondage/Vortex/2003 - Built 10/2002/25,000
vdoubleyew/Vortex/2003 - Built10/2002/25,000
asoka/Vortex/2003 - Built 10/2002/59,300
jthazel333/PW/2003 - Built?/14,000
2003_Passat_1.8T/PW/2003 - Built 10/2002/49,000
jsc/Vortex/2003 - Built?/40,000
jkleinlein/PW/2003 - Built 03/2003/60,000
racer_41/Vortex/2003 - Built 12/2002/37,500
IDriveB5/Vortex/2003 - Built 11/2002/27,000
mweaverrn/Vortex/2003 - Built 01/2003/58,000
jollyman78/PW/2003 - Built 09/2002/51,000
VW4Fun/PW/2003 - Built 11/2002/39,000
The_American_Standard/Vortex/2003 - Built 11/2002/41,982
ein_erda/PW/2003 - Built 11/2002/51,170
wst/PW/2003 - Built 10/2002/34,000
Kid Lightening/PW/2003 - Built ?/51,500
GMoney805/PW/2003 - Built 01/2003/35,310
danelon/PW/2003 - Built 12/2002/22,000
mass_03_owner/PW/2003 - Built - 10/2002/38,000
StyxNStones/PW/2003 - Built 10/2002/27,000
Doppelganger/PW/2003 - Built 11/2002/18,900
Protoclown/PW/2003 - Built 10/2002/37,000
weenjoyx/PW/2003 - Built 11/2002/47,000
wedgecon/Vortex/2003 - Built 01/2003/44,100
dieseldawg/Vortex/2003 - Built 12/2002/32,381
vwsalt/PW/2003 - Built 11/2002/53,000
ycharlies/PW/2003 - Built 12/2002/29,000
ctobio/Vortex/2003 - Built 04/2003/58,000
sontha/PW/2003 - Built 03/2003/22,000
fester/Vortex/2003 - Built 02/2003/38,000
gunteach/PW/2003 - Built 12/2002/57,782
vdubTX/PW/2003 - Built 12/2002/34,234
lawofkirk/PW/2003 - Built 01/2003/48,800
OnceALoyalVWCustomer/PW/2003-Built 12/02/58,830
BluAnthraciteB5/PW/2003 - Built 11/2002/40,179

Average mileage at failure: 38,764
Olympic average at failure: 38,857

Here is the current build date distribution by month:

Sep 2002: 1
Oct 2002: 9
Nov 2002: 10
Dec 2002: 7
Jan 2003: 4
Feb 2003: 1
Mar 2003: 2
Apr 2003: 1

Hers: 2008 Passat 2.0T Wagon – Lux, Reflex Silver, Black Leather
Mine: 2009 Rabbit 2.5 2-Door – Tiptronic, Sunroof, Cold Weather Package, United Gray, Anthracite

The recall will cover all 2003 Passats with the VIN in the following range:

WVW_ _ _ 3B _ _ _ 149975 through WVW_ _ _ 3B _ _ _ 432806

Mine was 409653, and it was produced mid-April 2003, so it definetely will cover at least april production, if not further.

Make : VOLKSWAGEN
Model : PASSAT
Year : 2003
Manufacturer : VOLKSWAGEN OF AMERICA, INC
NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID Number : 06V017000
Mfg's Report Date : JAN 17, 2006
Component: FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE:DELIVERY:FUEL PUMP
Potential Number Of Units Affected : 74000
Summary:
ON CERTAIN PASSENGER VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH 1.8L TURBO, 2.8L V6, OR 3.0L ENGINES, A CHANGE IN THE ELECTRICAL MOTOR COMPONENTS IN THE FUEL PUMP CAN LEAD TO AN INOPERATIVE FUEL PUMP AND, ULTIMATELY, STOPPAGE OF FUEL SUPPLY TO THE ENGINE.
Consequence:
Remedy:
DEALERS WILL INSTALL NEW FUEL PUMPS FREE OF CHARGE. THE RECALL IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN DURING MARCH 2006. OWNERS MAY CONTACT VW AT 1-800-222-8987 OR AUDI AT 1-800-822-2834.
Notes:
VW RECALL NO. M7 AND AUDI RECALL NO. JL. CUSTOMERS MAY ALSO CONTACT THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION'S VEHICLE SAFETY HOTLINE AT 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), OR GO TO HTTP://WWW.SAFERCAR.GOV.

More information in this PDF file:

http://199.79.180.163/prepos/f...3.PDF

Modified by ctobio at 11:33 AM 2-18-2006

Description of Defect:

In the period between September 2002 and March 2003, a sub-supplier experienced an unknown change in the material composition of the carbon-brush set used in the electrical motor in the fuel pump. Recent analysis has shown that this change can lead to increased wear of the carbon brush sets, which in turn can lead to an inoperative fuel pump and, ultimately, stoppage of the fuel supply to the engine. If this condition occurs, the vehicle can still be controlled by the foundation brakes and steering, and can be stopped in a controlled manner.

Looks like Brett's and my analysis was dead-on. This also explains why Altair's fuel pump never died. His car was made in June '02, before this problem with the supplier occured. My car looks like it used the last of the faulty production run- I have an april car, so Aprils and possibly Mays have this fault.

Modified by ctobio at 10:08 PM 1-28-2006

Quote, originally posted by alina »

Nice. Will they pay towing and rental expenses? How about the reimbursement for my moral damages, being stuck 500 miles away from home in the 100 degree desert with 4 month old and 5 year old??? oh well, it's all the past now. this actulally swung me to sell my variant. Couldn't trust it anymore . I was really pleased with it otherwise.

Same here, the fuel pump was the last of many problems for me.
Loved the car but I had no idea if the new fuel pump was going to last.

Brett

Well, from the looks of it, this was a flukey production run. Just like the coilpacks.

What seems to do VW in is not poor engineering design, but manufacturing defects from their subs. Look at the coilpacks. This wasn't a bad design, it was poor paterials from their subcontractors..

VW needs to be much harder on its suppliers.

This happens to all manufacturers and the public rarely finds out - unless it's huge or people are injured. Then, with the cost of the recall - the auto maker, suppliers and manufacturers have to decide if they want to battle out liability - e.g. Ford v. Bridgestone Firestone. Was it a faulty tire or was it because Ford underinflated all of the tires on Explorers because SUV drivers wanted a truck that didn't feel like a truck.

Your efforts in this are to be comended. Way to go

04 1.8T 5spd Fresco Green Sedan
99.5 1.8T 5spd Satin Silver Wagon
95 Saturn SL1, 94 Toyota T-100, 87 VW Quantum, 87 Subaru GL-Turbo Sedan, 79 Datsun 210 Wagon, 76 Honda CB500 Super Sport, 75 Honda CB350

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever

Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

Guess that would only cover voluntary recalls, not the federally mandated ones.

The Ford Explorer thing has another dimension to it. It's rarely just one thing that leads to an engineering failure. It's a combination:

1. Ford customers want their truck to not ride like a truck. So, one way to do this without complicated reworking of the suspension is to inflate the tires to low pressure
2. The Bridgestone tires may have been less tolerant of underinflation, or dropping much below the margin given by Ford's tire inflation spec
3. Most car owners are rather oblivious to the fact that proper tire pressure is to be maintained, or have no idea what is the right thing to do (like anyone reads the owner's manual).

Blame goes to 3 entities in this situation: Ford for recommending an underinflation spec, Bridgestone for providing a tire that was intolerant of the level of underinflation, and the customers for not maintaining their vehicles properly. Any one of these three failures doesn't materialize, then trucks don't flip over and people don't die.

...and I turn in my leased Oct 02 build on March 21st.

Hers: 2008 Passat 2.0T Wagon – Lux, Reflex Silver, Black Leather
Mine: 2009 Rabbit 2.5 2-Door – Tiptronic, Sunroof, Cold Weather Package, United Gray, Anthracite

Keep your fingers crossed that your Oct '02 build holds up.

Remarkable! While I have no way of knowing whether our efforts affected VWoA's decision to implement a fuel pump recall, I still want to thank those members who provided all of the information that we gathered for our database. I also want to thank all who filed a complaint with the NTHSA website - I am certain that those efforts certainly impacted this decision. Finally, a thanks to ctobio and and Brett1 who actually disected their failed pumps to explain exactly what the fault was.

YES! We Won!

Well, thank you for all your work and other folks who submitted a
complaint to us. You guys are our "eyes" and "ears" to help us do our
job of making our highway safer. Thanks again.

Moral of this story- sending feedback to NHTSA does work if there's a serious defect that warrants a recall.

So she mentioned how her husband and a bunch of other guys online rattled the cage got NHTSA to initiate a recall on the faulty fuel pump. She's going to let him know to ask VW for reimbursement come end of March and to save all his reciepts.

Funny. Now I know of 6 people outside of this forum with '03 Passats, and 3 have had fuel pump failures. It's a bit alarming. My statistical sampling is a bit too small, but a 50% failure rate is really something...

And that 62k miles number is bumping the average failure miles even higher. I looked at the list quickly and it seems 62k is the highest number there/

Hers: 2008 Passat 2.0T Wagon – Lux, Reflex Silver, Black Leather
Mine: 2009 Rabbit 2.5 2-Door – Tiptronic, Sunroof, Cold Weather Package, United Gray, Anthracite

VDO has got to be hoping that the compound used for the motor brushes were only put into these specific motors and no others. Can you imagine if all VDO fuel pump motors build at xyz factory had this problem?

If I'm a QA engineer at VDO, I'd be a little worried right about now. I would imagine they would need to revisit their QC procedures, as this defective production run lasted 6 months. That's an interesting round number...

So, what we're starting to see now is the higher mileage pumps failing, effectively the better of the worst. The worst of the worst were dying at 20k. Where do the best of the worst fail?

It would be nice to know the details, who supplied the brushes, why no quality tests were done, what other products got bad brushes, etc.

In a normal car in normal driving, you can expect to get about 130,000 miles out of a pump. Lots of low speed driving will lower that, as will running low/out of gas often.
People with 50 mile hiway commutes will get a lot more miles.

It all comes down to run time.

Brett

Here's my theory of what happened at the VDO plant. For some reason, in September 2002 a manufacturing process changed, causing the manufacture of the brushes to have too much carbon and too little metal. No QC was done on this component of the motor for whatever reason, or it was missed. 6 months later in March 2003, QC caught the problem and it was addressed. VDO may or may not have told VW about the problem at the time. Either way, they knew very clear what the range of manufacture date was for the defective components.

In all likelihood, VW will make VDO foot the bill for this recall, partially or in full, since it ultimately was their failure- they did not provide a component that conformed to VW's requirements per the contract they signed to supply the parts. They probably didn't do an adequate amount of QC on the parts they were supplying.

I'm pulling this all out my butt, of course.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

You'll want to read "Tragic Indifference" by Adam Penenberg. Fascinating take on the entire Ford/Firestone episode.