2013 Volkswagen Jetta
Complaints about this year name transmission far more often than the other years of this generation — 22% of them, about 3× the usual rate of 8.7%.
Generation 2 of the Volkswagen Jetta, which began in 2011 and ran to 2018. 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 | 1,102 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 190 |
| Involving a crash | 26 |
| Involving a fire | 6 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 27 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- transmission — 22.1% of this year's complaints, against 6.9% across the other years of this generation (3.2×).
- clutch — 6.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.5% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: clutch, engage.
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
- jetta hybrid — 9% of complaints, 22× usual
- unit — 8% of complaints, 4× usual
- gets stuck — 8% of complaints, 3× usual
What owners wrote
The mechatronic unit in the transmission failed without warning and caused the vehicle to not move while while in traffic. This issue plagues almost every Jetta Hybrid and VW of America will not correct this serious safety issue. This transmission has an extre…
Transmission shifts hard and told to this is a common problem with the Jetta hybrids.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V679000 UNKNOWN OR OTHER
- 19V615000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 15V483000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14E007000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 14V656000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 20E064000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC 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 2013 Volkswagen Jetta? What happened to yours?
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