Dangerous Ignition Switch Recall

While you might have nightmares about falling or being chased by zombies, automakers are having nightmares about defective ignition switches. It started with GM's well-publicized ignition issues earlier this year, carried over to Chrysler's repeated problems, and now Volkswagen is joining the fray.

VW is recalling 18,500 model year 2009 Routans that have ignition switches that can inadvertently turn the car (and it's safety features) off if the owner's keychain is too heavy.

VW says the minivan should only be driven with a single key. That means no other keys, key fobs, bottle openers or knick knacks hanging from your ignition (sorry Mickey Mouse keychain, you have to go). Someday we'll all be telling our kids tales about landline phones, the sounds 56k modems used to make, and how we used to put car keys on heavy keychains.

In March 2011, VW recalled the 2010 Routan for the same problem. Any 2010 Routans that weren't repaired from the 2011 recall will need to be fixed. The automaker estimates that's about 31,000 minivans in total.