Vehicle recall 01V157000 · May 3, 2001
Audi A6 and Volkswagen Passat
Vehicle description: passenger vehicles.
Source: NHTSA data as of September 22, 2026. Last refreshed Sep 23, 2026, 2:43 AM UTC.
- Summary
- Vehicle description: passenger vehicles. Sulfur in fuel interacts with certain additives found in widely available gasoline causing sulfur to become deposited on the contact points of three fuel sending units mounted inside the fuel tank. This could cause the fuel gauge to read full while the fuel tank may not in fact be full or could be empty.
- Consequence
- Running out of fuel without warning while the fuel gauge indicates that there is sufficient fuel in the tank lead to safety problems.
- Remedy
- Dealers will remove the existing fuel level sending units and replace them with fuel level sending units using a new alloy composed of gold, silver, and a small amount of nickel, which will not chemically react with sulfur. VW/Audi will also call back vehicles that were repaired under a previous recall last June in order to install the updated fuel sending units NHTSA 00V137/Audi lb). Owner notification began may 1, 2001. Owners who take their vehicles to an authorized dealer on an agreed upon service date and do not receive the free remedy within a reasonable time should contact Audi at 1-866-892-2834.
- Notes
- Also contact the national highway traffic safety administration's auto safety hotline at 1-888-dash-2-dot (1-888-327-4236).
Recall details
- NHTSA campaign
- 01V157000
- Reported to NHTSA
- May 3, 2001
- Filed by
- VOLKSWAGEN OF AMERICA,INC
- Owner notification
- May 1, 2001
- Vehicles potentially affected
- 70,000
- Initiated by
- the manufacturer
- Components
- Fuel system, gasoline › Storage › Tank assembly
Vehicles covered
As listed by NHTSA. A recall usually covers only some vehicles of each model and year, often a production date range.
Has your Audi been repaired?
Recalls here come from NHTSA’s records for the model and year. Not every vehicle of a model is included in every recall, and this site can’t see whether a repair has been done. Only a VIN lookup can tell you that.
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