2019 Volkswagen Golf
Complaints about this year name stall far more often than the other years of this generation — 29% of them, about 58× the usual rate of 0.5%.
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 | 142 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 28 |
| Involving a crash | 5 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 28.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- stop — 50.7% of this year's complaints, against 7.2% across the other years of this generation (7.1×).
- stalls — 28.9% of this year's complaints, against 7.4% across the other years of this generation (3.9×). Owners wrote it as: stalls, engine stalls, button, edition.
- coming — 23.9% of this year's complaints, against 5.9% across the other years of this generation (4.1×).
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.
Also unusual this year
- clutch — 30% of complaints, 47× usual
- neutral — 23% of complaints, 58× usual
- stop — 51% of complaints, 5× usual
What owners wrote
ENGINE STALLS AS CAR COMES TO A FULL STOP IN NORMAL STREET TRAFFIC: BRAKING WITH TRANSMISSION IN NEUTRAL, CLUTCH ENGAGED OR DISENGAGED, NEAR-STATIONARY OR FULL-STATIONARY; BRAKING WITH TRANSMISSION IN GEAR AND CLUTCH FULLY DISENGAGED, NEAR-STATIONARY OR FULL-S…
I HAD SOME ENGINE STALL PROBLEMS WITH THE VEHICLE WHEN FIRST PURCHASED. THE ENGINE WOULD CUT OFF QUIETLY WHILE AT A STOP LIGHT AND BEGINNING TO DEPRESS THE CLUTCH WHILE IN NEUTRAL. HAPPENED IN HEAVY TRAFFIC ON THE HIGHWAY AND IN STOP-AND-GO CITY TRAFFIC. I BRO…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V188000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 19V615000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 19V879000 WHEELS Fixed free of charge.
- 22V815000 TIRES Fixed free of charge.
- 23V604000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 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 2019 Volkswagen Golf? What happened to yours?
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