Engine Compartment Fire

An NHTSA Preliminary Evaluation into Volkswagen vehicles. Closed 7 February 2011.

Investigation
PE10027
Type
Preliminary Evaluation
Opened
26 July 2010
Closed
7 February 2011

What NHTSA investigated

ODI has received 11 complaints alleging that a fire started in the engine compartment of the vehicle that may be related to ignition coil failure, and 9 complaints of ignition coil failure that did not result in a fire.Reports state that the vehicle hesitated or lost power, and the check engine or dashboard lights illuminated.The vehicles were repaired by replacing the faulty ignition coil(s). Some of the complaints indicated that the ignition coils were replaced more than once.The scope of PE10-027 focused on Model Years (MY)2002-2003 Passat vehicles.Volkswagen provided data regarding their analysis of the vehicle fires and faulty ignition coils for these vehicles as well as other MY Passat vehicles.ODI needs to further investigate this issue.To facilitate the acquisition and analysis of additional information, this investigation has been upgraded to an Engineering Analysis, EA11-002.

Vehicles covered

MakeModelModel years
VolkswagenPASSAT2002–2003

Source

From NHTSA’s investigation file, rebuilt daily. To report a problem with your own vehicle, go to nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem. All open investigations.