Trunk emergency escape/entrapment prevention handle not working due to defective trunk wiring harness. Only applies to vehicles with automatic trunk.
2004-2006 · 2 model years
Volkswagen Phaeton Problems by year
Owners have filed 6 complaints about the Volkswagen Phaeton across 2 model years, and it has 0 recalls. The 2004 has the most complaints once its age is allowed for (4). The most reported problem area is the body, doors & structure, followed by the engine & cooling.
- Complaints
- 6
- Recalls
- 0
- Crashes
- 0
- Fires
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Deaths
- 0
Phaeton complaints by model year
Highlighted: the year with the most complaints for its age. Older vehicles have had more time to collect complaints - the Safety Index grade allows for that.
Most common Phaeton problems
Latest Phaeton complaints
Vehicle is at 80,000 miles. There is a coolant hose within the vehicle that connects the oil filter reservoir to the engine block. The hose is made of plastic and cracks if any of the many factors are met (rapid change in temperature, high coolant temperature, over 75,000 miles). As a consequence, the plastic cracks and coolant rapidly seeps out over time. After reading over many forums, this engine, the volkswagen/ audi 4.2L v8 has had this problem for decades. And many complaints have been spoken of the part...
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failing around 75,000 miles (not long after the warranty expires). In addition, the repair to fix the $6 plastic hose requires a full engine drop from the vehicle resulting in a very costly (i was quoted $2600) repair. I was speaking with an audi parts department, and they state this regularly occurs. Thus I firmly believe this is a design problem and is actually extremely dangerous to the engine, the environment, and to wildlife. With a loss in coolant, air also seeps into the coolant system. Thus the engine may overheat (mine like many others have) due to a lack of coolant circulation. However in the process, the coolant reservoir may still appear full as the air pocket is trapped within the system (thus not setting off low coolant warnings and not letting the owner to insert more coolant) with an overheating engine, this leads to a high concern for safety. In addition, the fact that coolant is creating half-gallon puddles around my vehicle after each day of work is also a large environmental concern (not only that, ethylene glycol which is the main ingredient of most coolant mixtures attracts wildlife as it is sweet in taste and causes death as the mixture is incredibly poisonous). *Tr
2004 Volkswagen phaeton with faulty torque converter. *Kb the consumer stated he had to pay for a $3,00 dollar repair on the driver's side fender which was caused by the hesitation of the converter engaging. The consumer stated he experienced problems with the vehicle for three years and never could find out what the problems were caused by. He finally had an independent electronic check done and the problems were as follows; the check engine light was on at all times. The oxygen sensors were replaced, but the...
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light illuminated again. The esp light illuminated after about 10 minutes of driving and the esp switch would not turn off the light. He also complained for years, that when he turned left or right too fast or from a complete stop, the engine would hesitate . The consumer was told that was normal between first and second gears. The internal oil seal failure caused the problems. A service bulletin was issued, but the consumer was never informed of the problem. The right rear upper control arm was replaced. The steering wheel had to be re-aligned. Coolant was leaking from the radiator. *Jb updated 06/08/10.*Jb
Control arm gaskets corroded on all upper and lower control arms leading to metal on metal. *Tr
2004 Vw phaeton trunk wire housing - the sleeve over the wire housing came off and then the plastic tube that covers the wires broke away from the joint that enables the wires to compress back into the trunk lid when it is closed. When having my tires rotated the service department closed the trunk lid but the plastic tube was caught between metal and rear glass shield. The glass broke and was replace. 2 Weeks later, while having the 80,000 mile service the technician closed the trunk and again the plastic piece...
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was caught and the rear glass broke. Dealer estimate to "fix" is $1,300 but it seems like a product defect. Internet blogs and posting suggest a widespread problem and vw issued a technical bulletin to dealers on how to "fix" - technical bulletin (tb) number 97-04-07. *Tr
From day 1 we noticed that this "luxury" vehicle did not shift properly. Day 2 we returned the car to be serviced. The dealership kept the car for about 2 months because they could not fix the problem. We contacted the customer service department for volkswagen and filed our complaint. They responded by telling us that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle and that this is how the vehicle runs and that there is nothing they could do for us. They did nothing to remedy the situation and while they had the vehicle for 2 months checking into the repair we still had to make the car and insurance payments. Very bad product and service experience for us! *Jb
Questions about the Volkswagen Phaeton
Which Volkswagen Phaeton years have the most problems?
What are the most common Volkswagen Phaeton problems?
Across every model year, owners report problems with the body, doors & structure (2), engine & cooling (2), suspension (2) most often.
How many recalls does the Volkswagen Phaeton have?
NHTSA lists no recalls for any Volkswagen Phaeton model year on file.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked daily. Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data