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.
Accelerating up from a stop sign vehicle would not shift. Pushed on accelerator and vehicle lost all power and went into limp mode. Could have resulted in accident if I had been merging on a very busy highway. Had vehicle towed to dealership and they found a engine code but are unable to duplicate and want to return vehicle back to me without resolving defect.
Midnight, driving back from a friends house. My 16 month old (or rather new) Jetta SE 2012, shakes up when I turn on ignition. I give it 2-3 seconds to calm down. It doesn't. instead, the epc light goes on. Then the check engine light. Hmm... weird. Those weren't on like 2 hours back, or ever infact. Being the smart techie that I am, I try the highly technical solution to any problem that I don't quite understand - I try to turn it off and on again. The same god awful shaking and stuttering. But no epc light. I think to myself, maybe this is just a transient thing. Try to pull out of the parking space, and there it is... the [xxx] epc and check engine light. But my home's only a mile away, maybe things get better on the way there. You know, its a new car (bought 16 months back, brand new, and has ~7600 miles on it). But no, as I try to "drive" the piece of [xxx], it starts shaking more violently when I get to 25 miles and hour. So, I pull over, and a quick google search tells me to stay below 20 mph and get it to a dealer asap. So I get the car towed, and the next day the dealer tells me its a faulty ignition coil that has been replaced and tested and things should just work. But I'm scared to get in that car again. What if this would've happened farther away from my house. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
On the afternoon of April 30th, 2014 while the vehicle was ideal at a stop light the vehicles power steering and A/C gave out. After inspecting the engine, it was determined the belt tensoner broke due to a faulty bolt that should've secured this part. This incident happen 6 days after taking it to a local authorized Volkswagen service dealership. As a consumer and driver I feel a formal safety investigation must take place because a part such as this snapping off endangers my life and the life of the general public. This should become a major concern because Volkswagen negligence to detail puts all drivers at risk of major injury and or death.
I went on a road trip prior to this visit, and had a scary issue with my car where it hesitated several times while driving, it was hesitating like it was out of gas but I just filled it up with of course the recommended gas which is diesel. After a couple of minutes it stopped, which I found to be unusual cause its to new to be doing this. Then I started to hear and notice that unusual noise coming from the front driver side of my car again but a little louder than before, it was annoying me so bad. I was hearing a constant rumbling, grinding noise while driving, the rougher the road the louder the noise, when I hit a bump the noise went with the bump, the smoother the road it was less loud but still there. I took it to VW and they had told me they scanned it and found no faults with the hesitation issue, than I took a ride with a technician who did hear the noise I was hearing, the technician even noted it on my papers. We then took out a similar vehicle but I could not hear the same noise, so the technician advised me to take it back again if it gets worse. I had told the technician it is not normal, no new car should be making these noises. Not to mention the person who had sold the car to me never thanked me for the purchase as well as told me to never talk to him again, when all I was trying to do was to get some help from him, but he had treated me like garbage and made me fend for my own. On this visit they had supposedly done a multipoint inspection on my vehicle, and once again stated everything to be normal, nothing stating about my tires.
Once again I had to waste more school time and gas money, after my last 20K visit on my car the noise was driving me more and more insane, I tried ignoring the issue and turning the music up, but the noise had started to progressively getting to the point where I could here it even with music on, than on top of that I started to hear new and unusual noise that had never occurred before, I started to hear sporadic high pitch noises from the center console when I was at high RPM's or whenever hitting on the gas, it would start off low pitch than high pitch, than would rattle, the noise sounded like it was coming from the engine. I had shown the same technician a video recording of it, and he was baffled he also even heard the noise himself. I also notified them that when driving at high speeds it would sound like a door was open, even my guest I have had in it complained to me that it sounds like the doors are open. The service rep tried treating me like a fool and rolled my back window down a little than brought me outside and said this is why you are hearing the wind noise, and I had told her I was watching you the entire time you had rolled the window down, and than she tried to tell me she didn't even though I watched her do it, this place treated me like I was crazy, and disrespected me in-front me, and I also noted that some rubber seals were coming off the door edges, which should not be happening, making me feel like this car wasn't well put together and could run into possible future issues. Once again VW told me that there is nothing wrong with my car you are just hearing stuff, and kicked me out the door with no explanation at all.
- Lemon Grove, CA, USA
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20K service had been performed on my car, again I notified VW that the noise is progressively getting worse and that I can no longer stand it. I also notified them of newer issues that have never happened before starting to happen, but they told me lets fix this issue first before moving on. This noise that had been happening for awhile now has now progressively gotten louder and now making noises when I am turning, something it had never done before. They did a check, and all of the sudden told me that my tires is the cause of the whole thing. They had told me my tires are cupped and feathered, which seem pretty odd considering when I purchased the vehicle the tire where brand new and pretty good (hankook). It did not make sense to me because if it was my tires and if they were doing proper multipurpose inspections they would have caught this when rotating my tires. It really seemed like they couldn't figure it out so they just advised me to buy some brand new tires, or try to call the manufacture about replacements, well I did that and hankook said feathered tires has nothing to do with tire but with the mechanics of the car. They had notified me that the only way tires get bad is if the mechanics of the car. The manger word for word told me this "there is a reasno why your car is so cheap, maybe you should buy $2,000 tires, maybe the noise might go away", which infuriated me, because he is suppose to be the manager, but yet treats me with total disrespect and told me "we are done with this, we will not look into it anymore". this manager was rude and down right wrong to treat me like so (kearny messa VW, don't ever go there). I felt lost and scared knowing that they won't help me no more even though I still have my warranty.
When starting from a full stop in drive mode "D" I pressed the accelerator and the car responded with almost zero power to accelerate. It just rolled forward as though I wasn't pressing the accelerator at all moving 1 to 2 mph. After 5 seconds of pressing the accelerator and the RPM climbing slowly, it would achieve normal driving power. Even at speeds of 20-30mph the initial response upon hitting the accelerator was the same lagging response. Applying the gas pedal felt like starting from a stop with a manual transmission in 5th gear. I stopped the vehicle several times, even shutting off the car, without any change in the behavior during my 10 minute drive. After leaving the car off for half hour the problem didn't yet return.
I purchased my car 1 year ago has approximately 27K on it now bought it with 1000 miles on it after a month after purchasing my vehicle I started in some wobbling rumbling noises coming from the left front of my car I took up a drive with the technician the technician heard the sound they had my car for four days didn't even give me a loaner and I missed school because so. After 4 days they came up with no conclusion he told me to bring it back when it gets worse I brought my car back several times and after everything look for the fifth time they told me that my tires are feathering I was wondering why they tell me that now I'm not after the first two times. I then took it to the tire dealership and several other second party dealerships when they told me my tires are fine along with one of the Volkswagen dealerships. I am now having performance issues with my excelerator hesitated it seems like it's gurgling and seeming to have troubles accelerating now. My miles per gallon has dropped from 42 to 38. I am here in a whoooing noise when I'm returning the wheel all the way right and reversing and it's coming from the left side left front side where the original noise was, VW told me it's normal. I'm also hearing the same issues must like everybody else's with this car with accelerating I'm hearing weird cranking noise through the ac vent which is a normal at high RPM's. just recently I had a put my foot all the way down to the four with my brakes to stop the car and I don't know why. I'm also hearing the same issues like everybody else with my windows it's really not loud and noisy after about 50 mph. The dealership is yet to come up with clear answer to my issues they just told me to buy tires and they weren't even sure if the new tires would fix the issue or not. They also tell me I won't be covered in the future if something happens. VW needs to be investigate.
My Jetta diesel engine was hydro-locked due to water being pulled into the engine from the intercooler. Volkswagen has a tsb (technical service bulletin) published for this exact problem (frozen intercooler) - yet is only implementing or offering this tsb to customers on an as needed basis. In many cases - this is way too late. This is a known problem at Volkswagen -- and by not offering this tsb to all VW customers -- catastrophic engine damage can occur - if the right weather conditions are met. For my vehicle, when starting up my car - at the end of the day, to leave and return home --> when starting the car - it acted as if the battery was dead. At this point, water was ingested into the 3rd cylinder, the piston rod of the 3rd cylinder was bent, and engine damage was done. VW should not be offering this tsb to all tdi (turbo diesel engine) owners who could be affected by the tsb. Catastrophic engine damage by neglecting to perform a known tsb is creating a very dangerous situation on the roads.
I was trying along at 50 mph and the globe diesel light came on and the engine light came an. I kept trying to drive it to get to a safe place to leave my vehicle to get it towed. VW could not determine if was fuel contamination or faulty fuel pump. I couldn't move the car when I got to a stop. If this is a known issue to the VW company why are they trying to blame the consumers that I put the wrong fuel in my vehicle. VW installed the fuel guard which was a recall, and covered the rest of the parts but now I am left with a year old car that I hope has no longer further issues due to VW not recalling and fixing an issue with the fuel pump.
Our 2012 Jetta sportwagen 2.5 SE has suffered from intermittent stalling for the past 4 weeks. The stalling occurs shortly after starting the cold engine. This stalling has occurred while in traffic resulting in a serious safety concern. It appears that this issue is experienced by a number of 2012 Jetta sportwagen owners. Here are potential causes of the stalling per other owners: ECU wiring harness crank sensor throttle body engine management system coolant leak migration fuel pump fuel filter our vehicle is currently at the dealer. We are extremely concerned that this intermittent stalling issue if not resolved will result in injuries or fatalities.
The 2012 VW Jetta 2.5 has a vehicle defect in which upon a need for acceleration, the car stalls out. While the engine continues to run; the vehicle does not move. This vehicle has failed on three separate occasions nearly causing accidents each time. VW refuses to acknowledge the defect even though other VW owners have documented this defect in a variety of websites regarding the product.
The contact owns a 2012 Volkswagen Jetta. The contact stated that while driving 30 mph, the vehicle stalled as the power steering system malfunctioned. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer for a diagnostic test. The diagnostic test did not provide any defect codes nor did the vehicle stall while the dealer test drove the vehicle. The contact did not call the manufacturer. The failure mileage was 28,884. The VIN was not available.
I was driving on the interstate on moderate traffic at about 35 mph when all of a sudden the car stalled and the steering wheel and brakes got really hard. I had to use the emergency brake to stop the car because the brakes wouldn't work. My Jetta has the automatic transmission and it was set on "manual with no clutch" when it happened. The thing is I wasn't even touching that when the car stalled. That first incident happened less than 2 weeks after I'd gotten the car fresh off the dealership. I didn't want to admit that there was something wrong with the car because I was excited to have a new car. I've owned the car for almost a year now and it has happened at least 7 other times. Now I realize this is very dangerous because when the car stalls the steering wheels gets very hard and it makes it almost impossible to move the steering wheel or use the brakes. I'm not happy.
I was on an approximately 6 hour road trip. Approximately 100 miles from my home, my 2012 Volkswagen Jetta tdi was being driven at approximately 70 mph on the highway. The glow plug light on the instrument cluster began flashing. Vehicle then went into "limp mode", slowing to approximately 45 mph on the highway. I was able to make it to the next exit off the highway, and come to a stop at the off ramp stop sign. The vehicle then stalled, and would not restart. This left my wife and I stranded 100 miles from home. Vehicle was towed back to the dealership, where the vehicle was purchased. Mechanic at dealership stated the high pressure fuel pump "exploded", sending metal shards throughout the vehicle's fuel system. Dealership states this may be caused by "contaminated fuel". a small amount of online research revealed this is a common problem with Volkswagen tdi engines.
The contact owns a 2012 Volkswagen Jetta tdi. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle, it suddenly stalled. The vehicle was towed to the dealer. The technician diagnosed that the inter cooler failed and was clogged with ice on both the inlet and outlet sides. Which caused the engine to seize. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and offered to assist with repair costs. The vehicle was repaired. The failure and current mileage was 13,050. Updated 03/15/13 updated 04/22/2013
Car lost power and coasted to the side of the road. Towed to VW dealer. No fuel pressure. Removed fuel filter, full of metal. Fuel pumps, filter, lines and injectors replaced under warranty. Not a miss fueling issue.
The contact owns a 2012 Volkswagen Jetta. The contact stated while driving approximately 10 mph, the vehicle suddenly stalled and the vehicle began to idle excessively. The contact was able to be restart the vehicle it began to function normally. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the failure could not be replicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unavailable. The VIN was not available.
Picked up the car from the dealer on 10/03/12 at 11:00 a.M. it was new---had 47 miles on the odometer. Drove it to work and then arrived home at 6:45 that evening with odometer reading 81 miles. As I was parking the car in the garage I put it into reverse to back it into the spot and then switched the gear(this is a automatic transmission) to drive to straighten out. The car continued to move backwards in reverse and if I had not had my foot on the brake I would have crashed into the concrete wall of the garage. Tried to put the car back into drive--the gear shift was stuck in reverse. I turned off the car and of course, could not start it again because the car was in reverse. The electrical panel on the dashboard continued to read that the car was in park. Tow truck driver arrived and he had to manually pull the cable wire in the engine while the car was running to change gears and get the car to start. This is a very serious problem---the dealer and Volkswagen claim it has been fixed by simply tightening a clasp on the transmission cable. Why was the clasp loose? I maintain this is a design flaw. If I had been trying to make a U turn in traffic or park on the street the result could have been horrific.. I am petrified to drive the car again and the dealership and Volkswagen want to sweep this incident under the rug. Please investigate and prevent this from happening to someone else. Thank you
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Wolcottville, IN, USA