Volkswagen Air Bags: Inflator Module

Volkswagen is recalling about 363,713 vehicles over a problem with the air bags. In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, the inflator could explode with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.

Campaign
18V148000
Manufacturer
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
Reported
6 March 2018
Vehicles
363,713
Built between
Nov 2006 – Jul 2014
Models
5
Recall type
Vehicle
Initiated by
NHTSA investigation
Owners notified
16 March 2018
Repaired
56%
Unrepaired
87,478

Does this affect my vehicle?

This recall covers vehicles built between November 2006 and July 2014. If yours was built outside that window, it is not part of this recall.

  • 2009-2014 Volkswagen CCBuilt May 2008 to June 2014
  • 2010-2014 Volkswagen EOSBuilt April 2009 to May 2014
  • 2010-2014 Volkswagen GolfBuilt March 2009 to October 2013
  • 2007-2010, 2012-2014 Volkswagen PassatBuilt November 2006 to July 2014
  • 2007-2010 Volkswagen Passat WagonBuilt November 2006 to May 2009

Repair progress

87,478 of 363,713 vehicles in this recall had still not been repaired as of Q4 2019.

56% repaired — 204,423 of 363,713 reported

Owners not reachable
7,003
Scrapped or exported
64,809

Manufacturers file these figures with NHTSA each quarter. Vehicles the manufacturer could not trace, or that have been scrapped or exported, are counted separately and are not included in the unrepaired figure.

What the defect is

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2009-2014 Volkswagen CC, 2010-2014 Golf, 2010-2014 Eos, 2007-2010 Passat Sedan and Wagon, and 2012-2014 Passat vehicles. Upon deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, excessive internal pressure may cause the inflator to explode.

What could happen

In the event of a crash necessitating deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, the inflator could explode with metal fragments striking the vehicle occupants potentially resulting in serious injury or death.

What gets fixed

Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's frontal air bag inflator with an alternative inflator, free of charge. The recall began March 16, 2018.

Timeline

  1. Vehicles builtNovember 2006 to July 2014
  2. Recall reported to NHTSA6 March 2018
  3. Owners notified16 March 2018
  4. Latest repair reportQ4 2019 — 56% repaired

Your rights

A safety recall repair is free. Under US federal law the manufacturer must fix a safety defect at no cost to you — no charge for parts, labor or diagnosis — whether or not you are the original owner. A dealer cannot charge you for recall work, and cannot require you to have bought the vehicle from them.

That entitlement is not unlimited. It applies where the vehicle was first sold less than 15 years before the recall was announced — 5 years for tires. Past that a manufacturer may still do the repair free of charge, and many do, but they are no longer obliged to. This recall was reported on 6 March 2018.

To arrange the repair, contact any franchised dealer for the brand. If a dealer refuses the work or tries to charge for it, you can report that to NHTSA at nhtsa.gov/recalls or on 1-888-327-4236.

Manufacturer contact

Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 69Q9. Note: This recall partially supersedes recall 16V-078.

Official source

Manufacturer's recall number
69Q9
Recalling manufacturer
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
Recall initiated by
ODI

Everything on this page — the models listed, the build dates and the repair figures — comes from the manufacturer's filing to NHTSA and describes the vehicle line as a whole, not any individual car. Only the manufacturer can confirm whether a specific vehicle is affected, and whether its recall work has already been carried out. Check yours by VIN and read the official notice at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

Additional notes

Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

Check your own vehicle

This page describes the recall, not any one car. To see which recalls cover a specific vehicle, search by make, model and year.

A VIN lookup here identifies your vehicle and shows recalls issued for that make, model and year. It cannot tell you what is still open on your individual car - only the manufacturer knows that. Search by VIN instead, or check your VIN at nhtsa.gov for whether a recall is still open on your individual car.

Same component

Same brand