Volkswagen owners have filed 25,925 complaints with NHTSA across 37 models. On average the car was 4.32 years old when the problem happened, and 47.5% of reports fall inside the first three years — while the factory warranty was still running.
What breaks on Volkswagen
The systems Volkswagen owners report most, and how often each failure ended in a crash.
| System | Complaints | Share of Volkswagen | Ended in a crash |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air Bags | 10.2% | 11.4% | |
| Electrical System | 8.5% | 1% | |
| Power Train | 6.1% | 1.8% | |
| Engine | 6.1% | 0.8% | |
| Unknown Or Other | 5.1% | 1.9% | |
| Engine And Engine Cooling | 4.6% | 0.6% | |
| Fuel/propulsion System | 3.5% | 0.8% | |
| Service Brakes | 2.7% | 6.1% |
When Volkswagen problems show up
| Measure | Value | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Average age at failure | 4.32 years | How old the car was when the problem happened |
| Reported inside 3 years | 47.5% | Share of complaints filed while the factory warranty was likely still running |
| Complaints describing a crash | 974 | Of 25,925 total |
| Complaints describing a fire | 650 | Of 25,925 total |
A low average age does not automatically mean a fragile car: a brand with a young fleet on the road will always skew early. Read it next to the share reported inside three years.
Which Volkswagen models draw the most complaints
Volume follows sales, so a bestseller will always top this list. The columns worth reading are age at failure and how many reports ended in a crash.
| Model | Complaints | Share of Volkswagen | Avg age at failure | Crashes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JETTA | 32.2% | 4.3 yrs | 391 | |
| PASSAT | 24.9% | 5.2 yrs | 187 | |
| TIGUAN | 8% | 3.8 yrs | 56 | |
| ATLAS | 7.1% | 2.6 yrs | 31 | |
| GOLF | 4.8% | 3.8 yrs | 46 | |
| ID.4 | 3.7% | 1.6 yrs | 104 | |
| GTI | 2.8% | 4.3 yrs | 26 | |
| ROUTAN | 2.7% | 5.8 yrs | 14 | |
| BEETLE | 2.1% | 5.3 yrs | 24 | |
| TOUAREG | 1.8% | 5.4 yrs | 12 | |
| TAOS | 1.8% | 1.5 yrs | 8 | |
| ATLAS CROSS SPORT | 1.7% | 1.8 yrs | 15 | |
| CC | 1.4% | 4.5 yrs | 16 | |
| EUROVAN | 0.7% | 5.6 yrs | 6 | |
| JETTA SPORTWAGEN | 0.6% | 7.5 yrs | 5 |
Volkswagen complaints by model year
A bad generation shows up here as a block of years, not as a single spike. Recent years look quiet simply because those cars are young and still under warranty.
| Model year | Complaints | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | — | 1 | |
| 2025 | 16 | 3 | |
| 2024 | 19 | 9 | |
| 2023 | 60 | 7 | |
| 2022 | 27 | 4 | |
| 2021 | 47 | 3 | |
| 2020 | 10 | 1 | |
| 2019 | 37 | 6 | |
| 2018 | 16 | 3 | |
| 2017 | 39 | 4 | |
| 2016 | 32 | 7 | |
| 2015 | 27 | 7 | |
| 2014 | 46 | 10 | |
| 2013 | 48 | 10 | |
| 2012 | 65 | 14 | |
| 2011 | 34 | 18 | |
| 2010 | 41 | 13 | |
| 2009 | 51 | 29 | |
| 2008 | 10 | 11 | |
| 2007 | 19 | 11 | |
| 2006 | 29 | 12 | |
| 2005 | 14 | 22 | |
| 2004 | 30 | 43 | |
| 2003 | 29 | 136 | |
| 2002 | 36 | 94 |
What Volkswagen owners report
Grouped by the system owners named. Open any row for the full reports, in their own words — one per model so the same fault does not repeat.
Air Bags 2,634 Read
The contact owns a 2014 volkswagen passat. While driving approximately 20 mph, another vehicle drifted into the contact's lane. As a result, the contact crashed into a cement divider. The air bags deployed and a white, powdery substance flew into the eyes of the contact and his wife, followed by metal fragments. The contact also stated that the passenger side air bag caught fire. The contact extinguished the fire. The contact's wife sustained injuries to the hip and stomach, which did not require medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a body shop where it was diagnosed that a new transmission, front driver's side wheel arm, and air bag needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The vehicle was then taken to joe machens volkswagen (1200 vandiver dr, columbia, mo 65202, (855) 301-6700), but the nature of the diagnostic and repairs could not be provided. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 21,000. *tt *tr consumer stated customer exited to a rest area, missed a turn and at last minute attempted to make turn, hitting a curb. Both tires on driver's side blew out and airbags deployed. Updated 10/1/18
My daughter hit a deer while she was on the interstate, so she had her cruise control set at 72 mph, the deer came up out of the left/median ditch (she was in the left lane at the time). There was no warning as she did not see it at all, so there was an immediate, intense impact, enough where the hood of the car ended up opening up and smashing and coming to rest against the windshield. The Front end of the Atlas was HEAVILY damaged and NO AIRBAGS DEPLOYED at all! The vehicle's seatbelt did lock up and keep her from slamming into the steering column and windshield and the vehicle's Front Assist Braking system did engage after the impact to slow her down and actually tried pulling her to the side of the road, although, that could be a flaw as well as it assumed that she was in the right lane of the road to begin with, so it pulled her to stop in the middle of the right lane of the Interstate. Thankfully it was late enough in the evening and no other traffic so she was able to figure that out in her post accident confusion and was able to get the car further off the road and call for help. The Atlas had to be towed from the scene. Prior to this incident there has been no issues with any warning lights coming on and we have had all past recalls taken care of through the VW Dealership we bought our VW from, so we assume that they were taken care of properly
Air bags did not deploy after a direct driver side hit, and I was injured because of the accident. Car was declared a total loss by the insurance. The car is being held by State Farm if inspection needs to happen. I was hurt because of the car accident, and I fear for my life or my child’s life if they would have been in the car. I want to prevent any future injuries. I was driving 50 MPH on route 60 when I was hit on my side. There was no warning light on prior to the failure
Electrical System 2,203 Read
Check engine light on, car runs rough when wet. Has always. Bring it in for diagnostic and they say it is the ignition coil pack. It was replaced and the day after service is completed on the way to work check engine light comes on again. Bring it back in and after another diagnostic hook up and another $72 later now they say there are 2 more faults. The ignition wires need replacing and the long term fuel trim is running lean. I do some research on line and find out vw has had ignition coil problems and had recalls on 2001 and 2002 model years after a class action suit was filed. I contacted vw before I knew about the class action suit and the problems vw has had with the ignition coil packs and was told that they couldn't assist me. Go figure. A company who has had these very same problems in the past with other models and years isn't taking responsibility for defective parts. I am very unhappy with vw service, both at the dealer and there headquarters for not acknowledging the problem and for not taking responsibility. There is an attorney who is doing a class action investigation into the ignition coil pak problem. It is gg&d, girard, gibbs, and de bartolomeo. They are based in san francisco and have a web site. You can email them if you've had any problems with your ignition coil pack needing replacing. I think it is horrible that vw won't admit of any liability in this matter especially since they've had a class action suit already for other years. It is
On [XXX], shortly before 7:00 we parked our EV in the designated charging space at the EVgo charging station on at the EVgo charging station located at [XXX] and connected the charging cable to our 2025 Volkswagen ID.4 in the normal, intended manner, as we had done previously. We paid by credit card and watched the EVgo screen confirm proper connection and that charging had begun. We remained in the vehicle for several minutes to verify the session was proceeding normally and observed nothing unusual—no warning lights, error messages, or signs of malfunction. Only after confirming that charging appeared underway did we leave the car. We went into the Marshalls store across the parking lot. Inside the store, I monitored the charging progress through the Volkswagen mobile app, which showed the battery percentage increasing. When the battery reached approximately 23%, the charging session stopped abruptly and without explanation. I immediately went outside to check the vehicle and charger connection. When I reached the charging station, I found the ID.4 on fire, with flames visible and shooting high into the air. A police officer was already on scene and prevented anyone, including me, from approaching due to the risk of explosion, toxic smoke, or the fire spreading. Within minutes, Somerville Fire Department trucks arrived and took control. Firefighters extinguished the fire in approximately 15 minutes, smashing the windows to vent smoke and heat and then saturating the vehi
High voltage component, onboard charger, failure caused an electrical fire contained inside the case. It is available for inspection. Unclear on safety concerns. Taken to dealer and a second repair shop and they were unable to identify the issue. I opened the onboard charger and found the evidence of the fire. Has not been inspected by anyone. No warning lights were present before or after the incident
Power Train 1,586 Read
The vehicle was driven into the garage, driver pressed park then engine stop. Driver and passenger exited vehicle, opened both rear doors and retrieved items from the rear seats. Closed rear doors. No warning sounds or lights came on when exiting the vehicle. When returning to the vehicle in about an hour it had rolled out of the garage and crashed into another garage. When the driver's door was opened the shift lever indicated PARK. The incident was reported to the dealer and taken in as soon as possible. The dealer has been unable to recreate the problem and is still researching. Very concerned about the possibility of the vehicle moving in PARK and hitting someone or something
I am [XXX] and have only ever owned manual transmission cars. I bought a 2024 GTI/Manual Transmission a few months ago. I also have a 2017 GTI Sport, 6MT. All purchased new. I was so used to the way the 2017 utilized hill hold and had not experienced a hill in my test drive before buying the car. I also drove other brands manual transmission and they all worked in a similar manner. The "Hill Hold" feature on this 2024 GTI/Manual Transmission vehicle is dangerous and does not release when it is supposed to. It is extremely aggressive in the amount that it is holding. In fact, I was rear ended 1 mile from the dealership after picking up the car because of this issue...no kidding. My current workaround is to release the brake, wait a couple of seconds until the car releases its "Hill Hold", rolls backward, and then give throttle/release the clutch. This is a safety concern in many ways. I could get rear ended again because the rear brake light goes out when I release the foot brake, even though I have to wait a few seconds to move forward. Also, in an emergency, if I had to move quickly, the car would likely stall if I tried to overcome the "Hill Hold" brake before it releases itself. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
The contact owns a 2019 Volkswagen Jetta. The contact stated that while attempting to park the vehicle in a handicapped parking space, the vehicle failed to stop despite the contact's foot firmly depressed on the brake pedal. As the vehicle continued to move forward with the contact's foot depressed to the floorboard, the vehicle drove over the parking barrier, knocked over the handicapped post, and entered the sidewalk. The vehicle eventually decelerated and the contact managed to shift the vehicle into reverse(R) and regain control of the vehicle. The contact was uncertain if any warning lights appeared on the instrument panel during the failure. Despite the property damage and emotional distress suffered by both the contact and the passenger, no injuries were reported and no immediate medical attention was needed. A police report was not filed and the air bags did not deploy as a result of the failure. The incident was reported to the store manager. The contact was able to drive the vehicle back home without incident. The manufacturer nor the dealer had been notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be diagnosed or serviced. The failure mileage was approximately 66,000
Engine 1,575 Read
The contact owned a 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport. The contact stated that while driving at 40 mph, he crashed into another vehicle and within seconds, his vehicle's engine compartment caught fire and exploded twice. The vehicle was engulfed in flames when the fire department arrived on the scene. The contact did not receive medical attention or sustain injuries however, the contact's wife received medical attention for injuries sustained and transported to the hospital by ambulance. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an auto service center and deemed totaled by the insurance company. The dealer and manufacturer were not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 16,643
The contact owned a 2014 volkswagen beetle. While driving approximately 30 mph, the contact's vehicle rear ended the preceding vehicle. A police report was filed. After approximately 25 minutes, the vehicle became engulfed in flames and burned to the ground. The vehicle was destroyed and towed. The ambulance had to transport the contact and a passenger to the hospital due to bruises from the air bag deployment. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 22,000. Updated 05/25/16*lj updated 6/6/18
In stop and go traffic and traveling at an extremely slow speed, the vehicle bumped into the rear of another vehicle. The contact ignited the vw passat into flames destroying the entire vehicle. Importantly, the other vehicle involved has zero damage as the bump was extremely light. We are aware the model year 2006 vw passat has a history of this occurring in front end collisions. We strongly request and recommend a recall be demanded of vw
Unknown Or Other 1,317 Read
Was involved in a collision, rear ended another vehicle at approximately 45mph. The only injury sustained was a broken heel by the driver, all other party's did not receive medical treatment and only cosmetic damage to their vehicles. Moments after the collision, the tiguan burst into flames. The brake petal had trapped the drivers foot and the door was jammed. Fortunately the other party was able to jerk the door until it opened to free the driver. The tiguan was a total loss, becoming completely engulfed in flames
Rear-ended a car in stop and go traffic on freeway - fender bender-no air bags went off. Both cars drove off the freeway to the side streets to exchange information. About 10 to 15 mins later whilst the car was parked and engine turned off - there were two pop pop noises and then car burst into flames
I was trying to park the car in a parking spot. There was a curb to my right, So I was turning carefully to not rake my wheel against the curb. The car suddenly accelerated by itself, jumped the curb infront, hit a tree and stopped. It accelerated so much and hit the curb so hard, that the entire front right side was destroyed
Engine And Engine Cooling 1,199 Read
The contact owned a 2021 Volkswagen Atlas. The contact stated while driving at approximately 15 MPH, she had turned the air conditioner on and felt that hot air was blowing out. The contact stopped at a traffic signal turned the vehicle off and on again and noticed that the air conditioner was now blowing cool air. The contact had begun to smell a burning rubber smell and noticed that smoke was being emitted from under the hood on the driver's side. The contact stated that when she stopped at another traffic signal all of the dash alarms began to flash and she heard warning chimes sound as well. The contact pulled over into a parking lot and turned the vehicle off. The contact stepped out of the vehicle when she saw black and white smoke coming from under the hood, then flames burst out from under the hood. The contact stated that the entire front end of the vehicle was engulfed in flames. The fire department was called and extinguished the flames with water. The contact stated that the heat and flames melted the front tires. The fire department wrote a report. The vehicle was towed to an impound lot. The contact stated that the vehicle was declared a total loss by her insurance provider. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000
I was driving on rolling road (north) toward old keen mill road in springfield, virginia around 4:05 pm on november 4, 2014 (tuesday). I saw the smoke coming out near the hood in the front while waiting for traffic light, so I pulled over to the parking lot near a gas station. I saw people waved to me, and yelled at me to stop, I got off my car and they told me my car was on fire at the bottom, we bend down and looked the bottom of the vehicle, and saw the fire burning on the material hanging down. Fortunately, a driver ran over carrying a fire extinguisher from his car, and a person from the gas station also brought another fire extinguisher, they spread the fire extinguisher to put out the fire. I could not wait for the tow truck, so I carefully drove the car to the vw dealership in fairfax, virginia. The mechanic lifted up the car and took down the burned lower engine cover, and figured that it was because many dried leaves stuck near the engine and the high heat near the engine causing the leaves to fire up and burn the lower engine cover. I've saved this lower engine cover in my trunk, and have reported this safety incident to the vw customer service. The case was documented and a case # [xxx] was assigned. I report this incident to NHTSA for the safety concern because this non-fire-resistant material can cause the life of the drivers and passengers. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6)
Was driving vehicle on the highway , the vehicle's check engine light and brake light came on and the vehicle completely shut down , I pulled over to the side of the highway I seen smoke I opened the hood and it was on fire. I called police and fire. The fire was put out the fans are melted and I'm not sure what else is burned , I have no idea what could have started the fire the vehicle is taken care of and there's no warning lights on , on the dash
Fuel/propulsion System 912 Read
I was charging at Electrify America charging station for approximately 20 minutes when suddenly I felt the ID.4 shaking and then seconds later I was surrounded by smoke coming from outside and beneath the ID.4. The ID.4 was not turned on and was completely stationary. I unplugged the vehicle. During this time I made a best effort to not inhale but it happened so quickly that it was unavoidable. The smoke smelled really toxic and tasted like chemicals. I felt nauseous and woozy afterwards. I called 911 to report the smoke coming out of my ID.4. Call was made at 6pm, seconds after the smoke started pouring out. The vehicle was releasing extreme amounts of cloudy thick white smoke and it completely engulfed the ID.4 itself. There was also an orange/pink-like liquid pouring out of the left side of the vehicle from the bottom. The fire department came and from what they told me, they cut a "cut loop" to prevent the battery from continuing to get more power. They told me the cells in the battery were continuing to release energy and heat to the point that it was melting the carpets in the ID.4's floor. They hosed it down for over 2 hours until the battery was cooled off enough and safe to be towed to a safe area. There had been no warning leading to this. The car did not alarm of any issues
Evaporative Emission Control (EVAP) system traps harmful fuel vapors from the gas tank, storing them in a charcoal canister before burning them in the engine
Two safety defect incidents involving unintended acceleration. This defect has resulted in two loss of control incidents causing property damage. First incident: While attempting to move vehicle inside garage, I started engine with foot firmly on the brake, shifted the transmission into drive, and maintained full brake pressure. Immediately upon shifting, the vehicle bolted forward at an accelerate rate, despite my foot remaining fully depressed on brake. Vehicle travel about 30 feet in only a few second, coming within three feet of a structural cinder-block wall supporting house beams before braking force finally overcame the surge. Avoided a serious collision required immediate corrective action and full driver control. Second incident: Again, vehicle parked in my driveway in front of storage garage. After briefly backing up to clear the driveway, I again shifted to drive with my foot firmly on brake. As with previous incident, the vehicle surged forward unexpectedly and forcefully, overcoming normal braking and collided with full-length of storage cabinet system inside garage, destroying the cabinetry and stopping the vehicle's forward motion. At the time, my brother-in-law was nearby. Had he been in the vehicle's path serious injury could have occurred. As in the first incident, avoiding a more catastrophic impact required immediate and precise driver intervention. Following these incidents, I presented the vehicle to Garnet Volkswagen of West Chester, 1620 Wilmington
Service Brakes 705 Read
I tried to stop my car and the brake pedal went completely to the floor and did not stop at all. There were no warning lights on, I keep my brakes and car well maintained. My car hit the rear of another car because the brakes failed to engage when I pushed the pedal down. My car which is the vw jetta was totaled in the accident. My insurance company GEICO has the car sitting at copart and it should be able to be inspected. I know the 2015-2016 vw Jetta had a recall for brake failure due to brake vacuum pump.But my 2016 doesn’t have any recalls on it. The police officer inspected the brakes at the scene
My car is stopped and still due to heavy traffic . All of a sudden, while stopping, it starts moving and rolling away by itself. I try to stop it using the break pedal but it doesn’t stop
Under emergency braking at around 70mph all 4 wheels locked up and abs/traction lights illuminated on dash. Caused a minor accident and flat spot on all 4 tires. ABS did not work. This is a know recall for 2009 models of the same vehicle. I replicated the issue a second time at a slower speed on a secluded road with the same results. There are numerous complaints about the same situation on this and other model VW cars of this year all over the internet forums. The ABS module was diagnosed as defective by mechanic shop
Unverified owner reports filed with NHTSA. Percentages are shares of all 25,925 Volkswagen complaints.
Volkswagen against the rest
| Measure | Where Volkswagen sits | Out of |
|---|---|---|
| By complaint volume | #11 | 29 brands with 3,000+ complaints |
| By age at failure (later is better) | #27 | 29 brands |
| Complaints ending in a crash | 3.8% | across all 25,925 reports |
Ranking by volume says more about how many cars a brand sells than about how they hold up. Age at failure is the fairer of the two.
Compare Volkswagen with the rest
Volkswagen problems by model
29 Volkswagen models have owner complaints on file. Pick one for its worst years, failing systems and what owners actually wrote. Another 8 Volkswagen models have no complaints on record at all.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
- No ads, on every page
- No ads, no tracking — and much more
How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
How reliable is Volkswagen?
Owners have filed 25,925 complaints across 37 Volkswagen models. On its own that number reflects how many Volkswagen cars are on the road — compare the average age at failure (4.32 years) instead.
What breaks most often on a Volkswagen?
The most reported system is Air Bags with 2,634 complaints.
Do Volkswagen problems show up under warranty?
47.5% of Volkswagen complaints describe something that happened in the first three years, while the factory warranty was likely still running.
Which Volkswagen model has the most complaints?
See the model list above — each card shows its complaint count, and the model page breaks it down by year and by system.