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Car Safety DB

NHTSA Campaign Number

16V079000

AIR BAGS:FRONTAL:DRIVER SIDE:INFLATOR MODULE

Reported to NHTSA: February 10, 2016

Key Takeaways

  • Recall 16V079000 currently maps to 10 tracked vehicle-year pages across 2 makes.
  • This page summarizes the official defect description, safety consequence, and remedy text published by NHTSA for this campaign.
  • This is a campaign-level lookup, not a VIN-level clearance result. Use a VIN lookup before assuming your specific vehicle is still open.

Defect Description

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain model year 2006 Volkswagen Passat sedans and wagons, 2005-2013 Audi A3, and 2006-2009 Audi A4 Cabriolet vehicles. Upon deployment of the driver's frontal air bag, excessive internal pressure may cause the inflator to rupture.

Safety Consequence

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

Remedy

Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will replace the driver's frontal air bag inflators, free of charge. The recall began March 2017. Volkswagen owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Audi owners may contact Audi customer service at 1-800-253-2834.

What This Recall Page Shows

This page summarizes a single NHTSA recall campaign, including the defect description, safety consequence, and manufacturer's remedy. The affected vehicles listed below are the make/model/year combinations tracked in our database — this is not a VIN-specific result. To check whether your individual vehicle is covered by this recall, enter your 17-digit VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls. Click any vehicle below to view its full safety profile.

Affected Vehicles (10)

YearMakeModel
2005AudiA3
2006AudiA3
2007AudiA3
2008AudiA3
2009AudiA3
2010AudiA3
2011AudiA3
2012AudiA3
2013AudiA3
2006VolkswagenPassat

Browse Affected Vehicles

Related Air Bags Campaigns

These campaigns share the same broad recall component family, so they are useful if you want to compare how similar issue types appeared across other vehicles and time periods.

This recall information is from NHTSA campaign 16V079000. This site is not affiliated with NHTSA. Contact your dealer or call NHTSA's Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 for more information.

Data synced from NHTSA on May 4, 2026