10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 1 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 0 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 52,286 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
Rear door lock failure - unlock car using key fob, try to open back driver's side door, pull handle, door "drops" but doesn't open fully, pull handle second time door opens. From the inside try to open the door pull on handle door fails to open remaining locked even when driver unlocks manually. This does not happen every time I try to open the door but frequently. I've replaced door locks twice on rear passenger doors and the left door has failed again. Each time at my expense! this should be a recall as it's clearly a safety issue.
- Seattle, WA, USA
Passenger side, rear door lock does not work. Door cannot be opened from either the inside or the outside.
- Old Bethpage, NY, USA
I have owned vehicle for 2.5 years, went to check the status of the spare tire and found that the spare tire well was filled with water. Searching here and there I see that this is a known problem with this vehicle, something to do with the sunroof drain tubes. I bought this car from a VW dealer and have had it services at a VW dealer and no one has mentioned anything about this. With all the electronics on the car this could have caused a major outage.
- Montpelier, VT, USA
Our car is driven by 2 drivers- I am 5 feet tall, my husband is 6'1". the car seat gets moved back and forth a lot as we both drive the car daily. In late November my husband moved the seat all the way back and it made a cracking noise. We later noticed the air bag light was on. He found the broken wire under the seat and repaired it, but the light was still on. A call to the dealership revealed they knew about the issue and the fix was to "not move the seat so much". the next week- before we had a chance to take the car in to get the light cleared- the car was involved in a collision. I rear ended a car in slow-and-go traffic when she switched lanes in front of me while I was accelerating. $15,000 in damage was done to the car but the air bags did not go off. A witness that stopped to help had to pry the door open to get me out. The fighter fighters all remarked that they could not believe the air bags didn't go off. No airbags could have been a huge issue if the accident was worse.
- Justin, TX, USA
Ice collected in door jam, reducing operation of driver door. I had been driving in cold weather. Upon arrival at my destination, my drivers door was difficult to open. When forced open I heard a loud crunching noise. Once I got out of the car, the bottom of my door was damaged and a large chunk of ice was found in the forward part of the door jam. A significant amount of ice had accumulated. With the current weather pattern, this has been happening daily since the first incident. Now the door is damaged enough it will no longer open properly.
- Highland Heights, OH, USA
Back doors randomly lock and won't unlock as well as remain unlocked and won't lock. This creates concern with personal safety when they won't lock (ejection in car wreck, strangers entering car) and when they won't unlock (ability to get out of car in emergency). This began at about 30,000 miles (two years old) and then appeared to resolve only to begin again at 50,000 miles (3 years old). Dealership tells me it will cost $800 to fix and when it happens with the front doors it will cost $1500 to fix them. This is a safety issue and should be a recall.
- Stevens Point, WI, USA
Sunroof drainage tubes became unglued from the draining nipples that attach to the panoramic sunroof assembly causing a large water leaks every time it rained. The a, B, C, and D interior pillars and headliner became soaked as did the interior carpets and other components including the fuse panel box and central electronics control module (cecm) behind the driver's side dash causing intermittent electrical shorts and drivability issues. This is a real safety hazard that has afflicted many VW sedans with the standard glass sunroof and wagons equipped with the optional panoramic glass sunroof. Evidence of other failures of these components has been documented on many VW advocate forums but no VW tsb or recall campaigns have been issued to date to address this defect. The repair is very costly (4-5 hours of labor plus parts). A class-action lawsuit is currently underway for this same defect for many Volkswagen cars up to 2009 but the same defect persist in 2009 and newer Jetta sedans and sportwagens with sunroofs. I urge the ntsa to investigate this safety hazard on affected VW vehicles from 2009-2012.
- Miami Beach, Fl, FL, USA
Shortly after purchase, car began to fill with water. Not directly from the sun roof but from a disconnected or damaged drain hose. Causing serious mold & electrical problems. VW has reluctantly looked into the problem, replaced parts, but only made it worse. And the car is now undrivable.
- Sitka, AK, USA
Most VW Jetta 2009 owners are complaining about the excessive wind noise around the A-pillars on the sedans. It is so loud the it gives you a headache and increases drivers fatigue. Many magazines have written about the issue and have been told by VW that they have a fix. To date they do not.
- Alpine, CA, USA
- Fort Worth, TX, USA