I haven't read all the mail in this thread, but I can tell you to get your car checked. My daughter got the letter last Fri. on her '98 Passat. Today she got off the highway, pulled into her driveway, and the front end crashed to the ground. The driver side axle snapped. She's waiting for the tow truck now. Who knows what will be paid. Hopefully, there's no other damage done. Thank God she's not dead or injured.
My guess if the control arm which is being recalled failed it all should be picked up by VW. Let us know?
VW dealer gave an estimate of $4500 in damages and indicated making an insurance claim. I learned that when a car hits down, it's considered a collision. We took good pictures of all the damage this morning since it's on the hoist. The dealer wouldn't comment on the notice sent out on the control arms. Funny though, the insurance inspector called for a verbal statement of what had occurred and said, "The mechanic said the initial failure was a control arm. Is that right?" Many things broke underneath, whether a result of the fall, or the tow truck driver jacking it up in the wrong area, we don't know. There's scraps and gouges that they will have to interpret. VWOA and the dealer claim they aren't responsible for any failures (because she's out of warranty) so maybe it's best if our insurance company investigates. We're a little calmer today, but still will wait for the insurance investigator's comments with anticipation! They still have to see the car. We do have records that the arms had been checked several times because of a "squeek" and were told they were OK. I'll keep you informed. My main thing for posting these messages is to let everyone know to take the control arm check seriously. Maybe this is a very rare occurrence -- we just don't know. I suppose there haven't been any deaths caused or it would be a recall. Her car was made in Germany where it is a recall, so I wonder what prompted that. We'll maybe find out and I'll keep you informed.
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