NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Preliminary Evaluation PE10-034: High Pressure Fuel Pump Failure (HPFP)
- Closed
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation opened Preliminary Evaluation PE10-034 on August 26, 2010 and closed it on February 8, 2011. NHTSA's investigations file lists 3 models from 2 makes for it.
Updated daily from NHTSA's investigations file
Key facts
- NHTSA number
- PE10-034 (also written PE10034)
- Investigation type
- Preliminary Evaluation The first stage of most defect investigations: NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation gathers basic information about a possible safety defect, including from the manufacturer.
- Status
- Closed February 8, 2011
- Opened
- Closed
- Vehicle or equipment manufacturer
- Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
- Component
- Fuel System, Diesel
- Vehicles and equipment
- 3 models from 2 makes, including the Volkswagen Jetta and Audi A3
A recall appears here only when NHTSA's investigations file links one to the investigation; NHTSA's summary or record can name others.
NHTSA's summary
As NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation wrote it for Preliminary Evaluation PE10-034.
The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) and Volkswagen (VW) have received a total of 160 complaints and field reports alleging incidents of engine stall and/or loss of power that appear to be related to high pressure fuel pump (HPFP) failures in certain model year (MY) 2009 through 2010 Volkswagen Jetta and MY 2010 Volkswagen Golf and Audi A3 vehicles equipped with TDI clean diesel engines.
Approximately half of the reports indicate that the failure resulted in an engine stall incident, with many of these alleging stall incidents at highway speeds in traffic with no restart.
There has been one minor crash alleged to have resulted from HPFP failure in the subject vehicles.
In response to ODI's information request for PE10-034, VW indicated that it had found no defect related to motor vehicle safety with relation to the TDI Clean Diesel fuel system at issue in this investigation and attributed problems with HPFP failure to operation with gasoline contaminated diesel fuel.
Volkswagen stated that even a small amount of gasoline in the diesel fuel may disrupt the necessary lubrication required and may cause the HPFP to fail.
In response to concerns that fuel contamination was the major cause of HPFP and related fuel system failures, VW issued a Technical Service Bulletin in May 2010 (VW TB V011011 2023624 and Audi TB A011008 2023360-1), with instructions to inspect the diesel fuel for vehicles requiring fuel system service that have symptoms associated with HPFP failure.
The bulletin states that fuel system damage incurred by use of fuel not complying to ASTM-D-975 Grade 2 S15 (B5 or less biodiesel content) standards will not be covered under warranty. Volkswagen also provided information about 121 mis-fueling incidents reportedly acknowledged by consumers or dealers and test results for about 50 diesel fuel samples taken from complaint vehicles in late-August through early-October 2010.
The mis-fueling incidents include about 20 reports involving incorrect fueling by dealer sales or service personnel and generally report symptoms such as rough running, stalling and/or no start within a few miles of refueling the vehicle with gasoline.
Volkswagen indicated that the testing of fuel samples from complaint vehicles found that nearly 90 percent contained high amounts of gasoline.
Volkswagen implemented design changes for the HPFP in May 2008, September 2009 and November 2010 to improve the robustness of the pump when used with poor quality fuel.
ODI analysis of HPFP failures identified from all sources shows failure rates of 0.53% for MY 2009 vehicles and 0.11% for MY 2010 vehicles.
This investigation has been upgraded to an Engineering Analysis (EA11-003) to continue to investigate the issues with mis-fueling and HPFP design identified during the Preliminary Evaluation.
Vehicles and equipment listed for this investigation
NHTSA's investigations file lists these vehicles and equipment for Preliminary Evaluation PE10-034. A listed model year means only that an investigation names it; it says nothing about any particular vehicle. Model years with a try.vin recall page link to that page's NHTSA investigations section.
Audi
Audi A3
Volkswagen
All Volkswagen recallsWhat an NHTSA investigation is
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) looks into possible safety defects in vehicles and equipment, often after owner complaints. An investigation usually starts as a Preliminary Evaluation, or as a Recall Query when it concerns whether an existing recall covers the right vehicles or fixes the problem, and ODI can upgrade it to a more detailed Engineering Analysis. A Defect Petition asks NHTSA to open an investigation, and Audit and Equipment Queries are administrative investigations into whether companies complied with federal vehicle safety requirements, such as reporting, recall and certification rules.
An open investigation is not a finding that a safety defect exists, and NHTSA can close one without a recall.
To see whether a specific vehicle has an open recall, enter its VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Free VIN check: decode a VIN to see its year, make and model.
Sources
NHTSA's investigation record for PE10-034
Investigation details come from NHTSA's investigations file, which try.vin imports once a day. The investigation types are described from the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General's May 2023 report on NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation, NHTSA's petition rules (49 CFR Parts 552 and 557) and NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation procedures. How try.vin reads NHTSA investigations.