« Wordpress just keeps getting better
Merry Christmas (Sorry about our carbon footprint) »

Key stuck on your Passat ignition?

November 18th, 2007

I have a fairly new VW Passat and the key fob has been randomly stuck in the ignition when I turn off the car.

Thanks to the Internet and the awesome community at vwvortex.com I found that there is an easy way to release the fob when this happens to you. Simply put the car in park and push the button on the side of the shifter a couple times and you’ll hear the fob release.

I called my VW dealer when it happened to me and the guy on the phone said he had never heard of the fob getting stuck. Maybe all dealers should read vwvortex as well.

I’ll still have VW look at the problem but it’s nice to have a workaround until I can get in for service.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 18th, 2007 at 10:37 pm and is filed under Personal.

  • I was a VW service advisor for 3 years, and constantly reading VW Vortex -- perhaps your service advisor lacks initiative or the enthusiasm of dealing with VW's :)

    I went thru 2 advisors during my stint and neither one of them took an active interest in the product.
  • Thanks, buddy. Saved me a whole lotta time and trouble!
  • VW Vortex has been a far greater resource to me than any VW dealer I've visited, which is really too sad.
  • Michael Stephan
    VW PASSAT - STUCK IGNITION KEY???

    This can be caused "accidentially" if the shifter is pushed into the "OVERDRIVE" slot. If the button on the shifter handle does not release when it is pushed into PARK, just moving the shifter into the overdrive slot "AGAIN" which should cause the button on the shifter to pop out as usual, and in turn, allow the ignition key to release.
  • Michael, I can definitely see how that can happen, but in my case at least, I must have moved that shifter 100 times and it never made a difference. It wasn't until I hit that button a couple of times that it finally released.

    What's interesting is that this happened a few times and has not happened since.
  • Michael Stephan
    This just happened to me in my Father-in Law's car! I moved the damn thing 20 feet, and in doing so, accidentially shifted into the overdrive gate, and took in right out. Then shifted into park but the button and key were stuck.

    My Father-in-Law thought I broke something, and took the car out and drove it around with no luck. It wasn't until we wwere back out in the driveway, and I remembered the "accidental" overdrive shift. He repeated the shift into the overdrive gate, and then back to park and "voila" problem solved!
  • robyn
    this post was a life saver... i thought i was gonna have to go to the dealership tomorrow and pay to have this crap fixed
  • cmhodgson
    I want to thank you for posting this information as it was extremely helpful. I own a 2006 and 2008 VW Passat and accidentally inserted the wrong key into the ignition. Using the information posted above I was able to release my key from the ignition. Thanks again, it was a true lifesaver!
  • Mary
    Thanks - that solved my stuck-key problem!!
  • Jim
    This fixed my problem too. Thank you very much!!! 10 below zero here and the wind chill is more like -30.
  • Lonnie
    This blog was very helpful, I'm in DC for the Inaugeral festivities and a tow truck just wasn't an option.
  • Larry
    Great, have this problem and this is the first site to come up... But you NEVER put in how to fix it and I can't find it in VWVORTEX.com anymore...

    Can you just add HOW you fixed the problem?

    Thanks.
  • Larry, I did say how to fix it in the post. Put the car in park and press the shifted button a few times and the fob will release.
  • Sheri
    I tried it, but the buttin on my shitfter won't even let me push it. It is stuck, but thnx anyways it was worth a try.
  • Christi
    Awesome! Thank you! Saved me a lot of money!
blog comments powered by Disqus