Other powertrain problem on the 2013 Volkswagen Passat
1 crash 1 of the 18 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other powertrain problem gets reported
Owners of the 2013 Volkswagen Passat report other powertrain problem at a median of 25,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 75,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 13th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 10,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 95,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 88,113 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
55% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8,151 miles | 12,155 miles | 24,310 miles | 73,000 miles | 96,264 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a crash is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $400–$4,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 17 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 2,000 miles, and latest on the 2005 at 75,000 miles.
By volume the 2006 carries the most reports, with 32; the 2013 has 18. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
I have a 2013 vw passat sel tdi and have had two incidents so far with the vehicle. I bought the car new in september 2012 and in january 2013 with about 4000 miles on it the car went into limp mode. The car would not exceed 30mph and a few lights appeared on the dash. I took it to the dealer and was diagnosed with a turbo issue. The had reset something and told me they would call me when the part was in they needed to replace. A few days later the car was back to running well. Then on august 25th the car basically died while in motion with a loss of brakes and power steering. We have 6600 miles on the vehicle at the time of the second incident. Tried to restart the car and as the accelerator was depressed the car would stall again and again. Had to do this for a mile or so to get the car home, very dangerous, but since it was a sunday we couldn't get a hold of the dealer. On august 26th (next morning) we had it towed to the dealer ship and currently awaiting diagnosis. My wife as well as myself are now worried about driving the car anywhere as we feel something is going to happen again. We believe that this is a serious safety…
Total failure of transmission on a nearly new car. Fortunately occurred as I was parking at a destination and not on highway. Vw replaced the entire transmission while we were out of the country but never told me what or why it failed. *tr
I have the turbo diesel version. I was driving on hwy 695 in baltimore, maryland during rush hour (0800ish) when I began to accelerate only to lose power. The car had just enough power to get me off the road and become stranded on the side of this major highway for 80+ minutes. Dealership reported failed turbo. This was not a pleasant experience and one that I hope others do not have to experience. *tr
Also reported on the 2013 Volkswagen Passat
Airbag inflator rupture
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Steering column or shaft failure
Other engine problem
Headlight failure or clouding
Turbocharger or supercharger failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 18 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other powertrain problem happen on the 2013 Volkswagen Passat?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 25,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 75,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other powertrain problem on the 2013 Volkswagen Passat?
18 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.5 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed