2018 Volkswagen Passat: owner complaints and recalls

Owners have filed 45 complaints about the 2018 Volkswagen Passat and NHTSA has issued 4 recall campaigns. The most-reported system is service brakes, named in 12 of them.

45
Complaints
4
Recalls
5
Crash reports
0
Fire reports
2
Injuries
80.0
Severity index

Severity index 80.0 - Medium. It weights crashes, fires, injuries and fatalities per 100 complaints, so a vehicle attracting serious reports scores above one attracting many trivial ones (how this is calculated).

Middle half of all tracked vehiclesThis vehicle: 80.0p25 35p75 96cleanestworst
Where the 2018 Volkswagen Passat sits against the quartiles of every vehicle we track.

Among the 121 2018 vehicles we track with at least 40 complaints on file, the 2018 Volkswagen Passat ranks 33 of 121 by severity, where 1 is the worst. Its severity is higher than 73% of its model-year peers. See the full 2018 ranking.

What actually fails

Service BrakesService Brakes: 12 complaints (26.7%)12 27%EngineEngine: 11 complaints (24.4%)11 24%Electrical SystemElectrical System: 10 complaints (22.2%)10 22%Fuel/Propulsion SystemFuel/Propulsion System: 6 complaints (13.3%)6 13%Air BagsAir Bags: 5 complaints (11.1%)5 11%Vehicle Speed ControlVehicle Speed Control: 4 complaints (8.9%)4 9%Power TrainPower Train: 3 complaints (6.7%)3 7%Forward Collision Avoid…Forward Collision Avoidance: 3 complaints (6.7%)3 7%
Systems named in complaints. One complaint can name several, so shares overlap.
ComponentComplaintsShare of complaints citing it
SERVICE BRAKES1226.7%
ENGINE1124.4%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM1022.2%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM613.3%
AIR BAGS511.1%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL48.9%
POWER TRAIN36.7%
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE36.7%

Complaints filed per year

0482018: 52019: 42020: 72021: 82022: 22023: 42024: 52025: 42026: 6 (partial year)1819202182223242526
Complaints filed per calendar year, not model year. The hatched bar is the current year and is still incomplete.
YearComplaints
20185
20194
20207
20218
20222
20234
20245
20254
2026 (year to date)6
Complaint volume is broadly steady year over year.

Recall campaigns

CampaignReportedComponentSummary
18V53600015/08/2018SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FOUNDATION COMPONENTS:DISC:CALIPERVolkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2018 Volkswagen Atlas and 2017-2018 Volkswagen Passat vehicles. The brake caliper bracket mounting bolts on these vehicles may not have been tightened sufficiently.
18V36900001/06/2018SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FOUNDATION COMPONENTS:DISC:CALIPERVolkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2018 Volkswagen Atlas, Passat, Beetle, Beetle Convertible, Golf, Golf SportWagen and GTI and Audi Q5 and SQ5 vehicles. The brake caliper pistons on these vehicles may have insufficient coating, potentially reduc
19V38900022/05/2019EXTERIOR LIGHTING:HEADLIGHTSVolkswagen 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 Fede
20V56100016/09/2020UNKNOWN OR OTHERVolkswagen 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 require
Source. US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration public complaint and recall APIs (api.nhtsa.gov), retrieved 2026-07-25. Complaints are unverified consumer reports; volume is influenced by how many units were sold and how long the vehicle has been on the road. Not affiliated with NHTSA or any manufacturer.