2016 Volkswagen Beetle
This year drew an ordinary 58 complaints for a Volkswagen Beetle — the model's median is 33. What they were about is the unusual part: 53.4% of them mention tool, against 4.4% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 58 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 33 |
| Involving a crash | 2 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 27 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- tool — 53.4% of this year's complaints, against 4.4% across the model's other years (12.3×).
- confirms — 53.4% of this year's complaints, against 4.4% across the model's other years (12.3×).
- failure vin — 50% of this year's complaints, against 4.9% across the model's other years (10.3×).
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V945000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the…
Takata recall. The contact owns a 2016 Volkswagen Beetle. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V945000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reason…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V615000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 15V705000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
- 20E064000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 22V945000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Volkswagen Beetle was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2016 Volkswagen Beetle? What happened to yours?
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