Volkswagen Passat Warning Lights
Asked by DontLikeScreenNames May 20, 2018 at 11:58 AM about the 2013 Volkswagen Passat TDI SE with Sunroof
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
On Thursday our 2013 Volkswagen Passat TDI SE started
doing a weird. We were driving down the road just a few
minutes from home and the car dings I look down and have
a series of lights on the instrument cluster and a few of
them flashing. And the MFI screen shows ERROR: AIRBAG.
Then the more we keep driving they begin to shut off.
Anyone have any ideas what's going on.
It has 121, xxx miles. Regular services following
maintenance guide from VW.
7 Answers
ABS module related, most likely. All the warning lights there rely on the accelerometers, except the TPMS (tire pressure), but that is also handled on some ABS modules, and is also lit on your dash.
You will need someone with a good scanner. You can replace with used, however, they fail a lot, it may be better to just get a new one. You will need to pull the codes off of your old one before you unplug it. Then you'll need to code the new one and properly adapt all the sensors, which will require codes and precision, so I recommend a very good independent shop, otherwise they will start swapping sensors and it'll be expensive.
I had the same issue 2/23/2020, VW Passat 2014 TSI Wolfsburg edition 1.8 Turbo engine. It was the ABS sensor on one time. Mechanic tells me this is very common with VW, he had a Tiguan (do not know the year) with the same problem. Cost me $180.00 to replace with labor. Do not replace with used as this is apparently a common issue with certain year models and use Bosh (OEM) or VW original parts. .
These are the exact same lights (except the green one) None of the yellow lights are flashing but they are all now lit up. I just got this 2016 car last week- it only has 28k miles and the lights just went in few days ago. What was your conclusion & repair & cost?
Kmanna: Read on, this will help you and others with this as I just went through the same issue with my 2014 passat, it turned out to be the front right ABS sensor after the mech used his scanner, to replace it with my inexpensive mechanic cost me about $130, lights turned off but turned on again the next day, took it back now it was the left front ABS sensor, I decided to take the car to a European car shop, charged me $240. LIghts went on again the same day! Took it back to the EU shop and now it was the rear right ABS sensor I said WHAAAAT!!!, the tech explained this is a common problem with Passats, Jettas, Tiguans etc, in essence all VW's. He said they recommend to change both pairs (i.e both fronts or both rears) at once as when one goes out, the other usually follows - that is what happened to me!- they quoted me $450 to replace both rears, so I told him I would not do it now thinking to take my car back to my inexpensive mech, so they charged me a "Diagnostics fee" of $105 (beware). I went online, looked for the parts, purchased them for about $80 for both with next day delivery, and a friend that is more savvy than me with tools installed them for FREE after watching a video online when he saw how easy these were to replace. Problem has been gone now for over two weeks. Hope that helps.
Thanks for sharing your experience w this hassle.its going to be a while until I can deal w the issue so I hope it’s ok to keep driving for a few more months with them on.