2006 Volkswagen Jetta
Complaints about this year name flywheel far more often than the other years of this generation — 16% of them, about 25× the usual rate of 0.7%.
Generation 1 of the Volkswagen Jetta, which began in 2005 and ran to 2010. 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 | 580 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 190 |
| Involving a crash | 15 |
| Involving a fire | 6 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| EPA combined | 24.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- flywheel — 28.4% of this year's complaints, against 8.7% across the other years of this generation (3.3×). Owners wrote it as: flywheel, clutch, mass, dual.
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
- dual mass — 10% of complaints, 20× usual
- jetta tdi — 21% of complaints, 3× usual
- mass flywheel — 9% of complaints, 21× usual
What owners wrote
2006 VW JETTA TDI WITH DSG AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION, DUAL MASS FLYWHEEL FAILING, VW DEALERS KEEP IN STOCK BECAUSE HIGH NUMBER OF FAILURES, MECHATRONIC UNIT FAILING WHEN DRIVING, VEHICLE WILL REACH 3RD GEAR THEN SUDDENLY DOWNSHIFT TO 1ST GEAR. RESULTING IN A HARD…
HAD THE DUAL MASS FLYWHEEL COME APART. DEALER REPLACED FLYWHEEL, CLUTCH PLATE, BOLTS, A BEARING, AND A SUPPORT UNDER WARRANTY. THIS SEEMS TO BE A SYSTEMIC PROBLEM.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20E064000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 14E007000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 10V621000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 09V164000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 07V442000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING
- 07V284000 VISIBILITY
How this was worked out
Every year of the Volkswagen Jetta 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 2006 Volkswagen Jetta? What happened to yours?
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