2018 Volkswagen Golf
This year drew an ordinary 70 complaints for a Volkswagen Golf — the model's median is 28. What they were about is the unusual part: 10% of them mention took car, against 1.8% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 2 of the Volkswagen Golf, which began in 2015 and ran to 2021. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 70 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 28 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 26.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- took car — 10% of this year's complaints, against 1.8% across the other years of this generation (5.4×).
- below — 8.6% of this year's complaints, against 1.4% across the other years of this generation (6×).
- crash — 7.1% of this year's complaints, against 0.8% across the other years of this generation (9.1×).
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
TRIM ON CENTER CONSOLE ABOVE SHIFTER AND BELOW CENTER CUBBY IS RAZOR SHARP AND HAS CUT MY HAND DEEPLY TWICE WHILE PARKED AND CLEANING INTERIOR SINCE PURCHASING THE CAR.
Received a low coolant warning and then checked the coolant level. Coolant was low and was topped off. One week later the issue recurred as the coolant level and dropped below minimum levels again. Thermostat housing had a slow leak which was discovered by the…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V464000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 18V369000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC
- 19V188000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 19V615000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 20V372000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 24V110000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Volkswagen Golf 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 2018 Volkswagen Golf? What happened to yours?
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