I bought a Volkswagen passat a few months ago. The car ran good and it had no warning signs or problems when i drove it. I bought the car in a different state from which i live in. Before flying out, i asked if the car had any CEL or MIL lights currently "on" . I was told no.

The other day when i was driving, the car had a burning smell and some light smoke coming from under the front wheels. Nothing heavy and it didnt last long. I drove the car later to an auto-parts store (no smell or smoke this time) and asked to scan the car to see if any soft-codes were hitting. When scanned, it came up with a code that was a hard code that should have kicked the CEL/MIL on the dash.

Upon further investigation,we noticed the CEL/MIL was not even light up upon turning the car to the "on" position, before starting the car. All VW MIL light up in this stage and then they either stays on if the car has a problem or turns off if the car is in good running condition.

It appears that my CEL/MIL has been disabled. I dont know if the dealer did it or if it was the previous owner who sold the car did it but I know now that the car will need a new transmission as the torque converter is shot and this requires an engine pull and about 3-4K.

My question is what are my legal options? Does this violate the clean air act with the EPA because the CEL/MIL is part of the emission system? What about the Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices? Do i have any legs to stand on? Can a dealer, even a small dealer, sell a car that has such an important feature, disabled.

The local VW dealer can not fit the car in for a another week or so. I am going to have them pull all the codes, and see if they can determine when each code was fired (This will show how long the car has had the problem). I am also going to have them figure out if the CEL was disabled or malfunctioned. It they can determine that the CEL was disabled and its been disabled for a while then that would prove that the car was sold to me with a tampered with dash cluster.

Any legal advice would be great.
Thank you