2010 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%.
Last year of its generation. This Volkswagen Jetta ran from 2005 to 2010, so it had the whole run for its faults to be found and fixed. Last years are usually the most sorted of a generation.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 875 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 190 |
| Involving a crash | 24 |
| Involving a fire | 5 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| EPA combined | 26 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×).
- tdi — 24.3% of this year's complaints, against 8.5% across the other years of this generation (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: tdi, jetta tdi, sportwagen, jetta sportwagen.
- diesel — 19.7% of this year's complaints, against 6.9% across the other years of this generation (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: diesel, filter, gasoline, station.
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
- fuel pump — 19% of complaints, 9× usual
- radio — 16% of complaints, 15× usual
- fuel system — 13% of complaints, 25× usual
What owners wrote
ABS MODULE HAS FAILED. FUEL PUMP HAS FAILED. 3 DOOR LOCK MODULES HAVE FAILED. RADIO HAS FAILED. FUEL PUMP ISSUES CAUSED BATTERY DRAIN ISSUES.
CATASTROPHIC MALFUNCTION OF HIGH PRESSURE FUEL PUMP WITH METAL SHARDS IN THE FUEL SYSTEM. FUEL WAS NOT CONTAMINATED. THE VEHICLES MIL LIGHT CAME ON WHILE DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY, WAS ABLE TO STEER THE VEHICLE OFF HIGHWAY.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20E064000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 16V913000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 11V490000 FUEL SYSTEM, DIESEL Fixed free of charge.
- 10V621000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 09V333000 POWER TRAIN 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 2010 Volkswagen Jetta? What happened to yours?
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