This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Sunroof spontaneously shattered while driving down the highway. No collision or impact. Sounded like a gunshot. Had to immediately pull over, remove all of the glass in order to drive it at all.
My car has 16500 miles and the panaromic roof drains are not working properly and water leaked into the back of car. I did not know there was water in the car until I looked into the spare tire compartment which had quite a bit of water in it. Then I saw that the headliner was stained in the rear of the car. This is a hazzard because there are wires in the well for the stereo system and could have caused electrical problems for the vehicle. This needs to be addressed. It is not under warranty. It is going in for repair end of June (earliest appointment that is available).
Gear Shift trim piece chrome plating splits and lifts up. This part caused a laceration on my finger from the fingernail to 1st knuckle. Related Reference :: Service action 347J - Gear Shift Cover Trim:: This applies only to GTI and needs to apply to Golf in general
- Long Beach, CA, USA
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The aluminum trim piece around gear shift has come up from the plastic underneath. It is the front of the trim next to where there is a charging outlet and small item storage. When removing my phone one day, I caught my finger on the raised (delaminated) section of the aluminum and sliced my finger open. I did not need stitches, but did use butterfly closures while it healed. I removed the part that was sticking up so now the sharp edge is closer to the exposed plastic and not as much of a hazard. A quick online search shows this is a fairly common problem with many people reporting a cut finger/hand.
While driving in light, medium or heavy rain, water makes it into the front and back of the cab of the vehicle. When it comes in through the front water drips on my wife while driving which is distracting. When it comes in through the back the humidity builds and fogs the windows which makes it unsafe to drive. My local VW service center tells me the drain tubes are clogged. I have taken my vehicle in five times for clogged drain tubes. Our service advisor Robert Dominguez confirmed the problem. Our service technician Paul Macfarland inspected the vehicle and components. There were no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms prior to the failure.
Leaking sunroof is ruining interior components, including headliner. Multiple fixes and service bulletins covered under warranty have not been successful. Very concerned it's going to lead to larger electrical, body rot, and mold issues, not to mention completely ruining any value the car has. Most recent photograph uploaded was following a rainstorm on 4/11/2021.
On or about 6.13.2019, my 2017 VW Golf alltrack SE leaked water through the light in the roof, behind the visor (driver's side) while stationary. Each time the headliner was stained, water sat in the light and it leaked all over my lap. As of 6.11.2020, it is still leaking. This appears to be a known issue and a class action suit is pending. VW claims this is a repair defect, not a manufacture defect and only offers to cover 75% of a $12K repair on a vehicle that has 34K miles, been mostly garage kept or covered and all maintenance completed only at VW dealerships. I have filed several complaints with VW. They state that since vehicle is outside of 3 year warranty (3yr/36K mi), they are offering goodwill. I do not feel it is fair or right to have to spend even $1 to repair a known structural defect related to the spot welds and sunroof, which were likely the cause of each and every leak that the car has experienced. Additionally, the car likes to suddenly attempt to activate the collision warnings for no reason - after further research, this is a known issue as well, possibly related to water damage. VW of America refuses to take any action beyond their offer of 75% coverage of costs as goodwill on a car that wasn't built right to begin with and frankly, is a risk to the safety of my two children, 4 & 2, as a spot weld in the sunroof is surely a sign that it's likely not the only structural defect or failure of the vehicle. This is my 4th VW and clearly will be my last.
Leaky sunroof to do incorrect rework in production of the welding points of the sunroof frame area. Spot welds around the perimeter of the sunroof opening may be too large.* this prevents the outer sunroof seal from properly adhering to the body of the vehicle, allowing water to leak through the seal. Insufficient cleaning process prior to applying outer sunroof seal. The sunroof frame opening may have been improperly cleaned prior to application of the acrylic tape on the outer sunroof seal. This prevents the outer sunroof seal from properly adhering to the body of the vehicle, allowing water to leak through the seal.
About a month or so after I got the car, it started making a loud squeaking noise when turning the steering wheel to the left (and now when you turn it back to the right to straighten out) noticeable at very slow speeds such as pulling in and out of a parking space. I took it to the reno VW and they said there was no noise. I took it back again months later and first they said there was no noise, and I asked that they check it again. Then they tried to tell me it was from my bike rack which is on the rear of my car, only on in the summer, and the noise is there year round in the front of the car. Then they got on the phone with "tech support" and were told it's a clock spring and it's a normal noise. In forty years of driving, I have never heard such a noise. Two people I know have the same car, and their vehicles do not make this noise. I see that VW has had clock spring recalls on some of their other vehicles. My vehicle is still under warranty, and this should be fixed. This is a potential safety issue that I would prefer to avoid.
Purchased a used 2017 VW alltrack April 2 years ago. Presently has ~30K miles. Christmas day this year, 4 warning lights appeared lit-up in the console-air-bag, tire pressure, ABS and traction control. Took it to the dealership where it was purchased, and advised that water-intrusion occurred due to blocked sun-roof drains [which are not immediately accessible. Advised that it was not considered standard maintenance and an expensive repair. Also repaired were corroded wiring connectors and corroded wires! dealer advised that once corrected 'it shouldn't be a problem again' which we don't trust or believe. Research indicates that this is a well-known and well-documented problem. We are very frustrated and concerned this problem will be continuously occurring. Rust never sleeps
This past spring I noticed the car's headliner was wet and stained. It then began to drip copious amounts of water into the vehicle during heavy rainstorms. The car is only a year and a half old and has 20,000 miles. But there are water stains everywhere and it will be a mold issue soon, I'm afraid. Took it to the dealer, the car is under warranty. They said it's a maintenance issue, not a warranty issue because the drains that release the water from sunroof are all blocked with debris. Dealer first asked me if I had just simply left the sun roof open and was very patronizing, by asking me if there was just a leaf stuck up there, calling me hunny over the phone. I told him no, something was wrong and we dropped it off. $600 to clear drains. We refused because we found many other people experiencing the same problem with the same car and there is a technical service bulletin for the problem. We read the VW helped cover the costs for many people so we called VW customer care. I asked for a buyback or for them to fix the car. They called me back saying there was nothing they could do and refused to admit this is a defect in the design of the car. Even if I just got the drains cleared, there was still damage done by the "maintenance" not being taken care of. "maintenance" that we knew nothing about and there is nothing in the owner's manual about clearing the drains until around 40,000 miles. I was asked if I parked under trees. Well, yeah, we camp a lot. This car is advertised as an adventure car. I also don't have the luxury of parking in a garage. I'm a teacher. I work hard to make car payments, but I bought brand new car not knowing I would need to be spending hundred upon hundreds of dollars to "maintain" sunroof drains. The car is currently at another dealer and they want numbers in the thousands to fix the water damage.
Roof/sunroof leaking causing stained headliner and wet carpeting. Vehicle smells of mold and mildew and causes excessive condensation on windshield. VW dealership in fair lawn NJ attempted repair by replacing sunroof drain tubes but did not resolve the issue. New leaks have developed and dealer service is unclear where or what is causing them. As of 6/12/2019 dealer is attempting second repair stating the sunroof frame needs to be replaced. Unsure if this will resolve the issue
Front panel of sunroof shattered on top of driver's head while driving down the highway. The top of the roof was protected by a thule cargo carrier (empty) so it couldn't have been hit by a foreign object on the outside.
Panoramic sunroof leaks when driving in the rain. Windows fog up, stains headliner and moisture will over time cause mold in vehicle. In cold temperature frozen condensation observed inside of vehicle windshield and back window making it difficult to see out.
My panoramic sunroof has had an issue with water intrusion. December of 2017 I took the car into VW of pohanka, marylan. They replaced the headliner, drainage tubes, and smoothed out the welds to try and fix the problem. I noticed that the leak is back with water stains on the A-pillar and overhead. The problem is we do not know where the water had leaked into. We are afraid that the water intrusion may cause more problems down the road and do not want any electrical issues due to the water leak. Our main concern is the deployment of the airbags located on the B-pillar and the possible health issues of mold and rust. The problem persists during the rain season.
Infotainment system restarts every few minutes during operation. This is a safety issue because it is very distracting when using the navigation system while driving and can cause the driver to become distracted.
Purchase the car on April 2018 on Friday September 21st around 3 P.M. I was driving on highway sr 14 going around 55 60 miles an hour when suddenly a very loud explosion followed by hundreds of pieces of charred glass falling down from the panoramic sunroof the explosion was so loud that for a moment I thought that someone was shooting at my car Volkswagen claims that debris on the road or passing cars may have caused the explosion of the sun roof I just want to mention that there were no cars near me and after I pulled over and looked at the panoramic sunroof to me it looks like the sunroof blew up from the inside out Volkswagen dealer it's not willing to assume the responsibility
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Iowa City, IA, USA