2009 Volkswagen Jetta
Complaints about this year name fuel far more often than the other years of this generation — 30% of them, about 6× the usual rate of 5.3%.
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 | 903 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 190 |
| Involving a crash | 31 |
| Involving a fire | 8 |
| Recalls | 7 |
| EPA combined | 25 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- fuel — 29.8% of this year's complaints, against 5.3% across the other years of this generation (5.6×).
- abs — 27.7% of this year's complaints, against 10% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: abs, module, abs module, stability.
- plug — 12.6% of this year's complaints, against 0.9% across the other years of this generation (14.6×). Owners wrote it as: plug, glow, glow plug, plug light.
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
- abs — 20% of complaints, 16× usual
- fuel system — 15% of complaints, 30× usual
- fuel pump — 20% of complaints, 10× usual
What owners wrote
1. THE CAR'S GLOW PLUG LIGHT STARTED FLASHING AND THE CAR LOST POWER AND STALLED. 2. THE CAR STOPPED RUNNING SUDDENLY. PER THE DEALER, IT WAS CAUSED BY THE FUEL PUMP EXPLODING. *TR 3. THE ENTIRE FUEL SYSTEM, INCLUDING THE TANK, WAS REPLACED BY THE DEALER.
ENGINE ABRUPTLY STALLED ENTERING LARGE MULTI-LANE INTERSECTION, AS ENGINE REPAIR LIGHT CAME ON. SUDDENLY INOPERATIVE POWER TRAIN ON THE VEHICLE WITHOUT ANY PRIOR WARNING. TDI DIESEL POWERED VEHICLE. TOWED TO DEALERSHIP AND DIAGNOSED WITH HPFP (FUEL PUMP) & FUE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V679000 UNKNOWN OR OTHER
- 20E064000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 16V913000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 11V490000 FUEL SYSTEM, DIESEL Fixed free of charge.
- 09V333000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 09V164000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 10V621000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
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 2009 Volkswagen Jetta? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…