2015 Volkswagen Jetta
This year drew an ordinary 389 complaints for a Volkswagen Jetta — the model's median is 190. What they were about is the unusual part: 11.3% of them mention safety issue, against 4.5% across the other years of this generation.
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 | 389 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 190 |
| Involving a crash | 16 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 8 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 29 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- safety issue — 11.3% of this year's complaints, against 4.5% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: safety issue, indicating, 23r1, software update.
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.
What owners wrote
A warning lamp came on that I didn’t know what it was for. It came on yesterday along with a tire warning lamp. The steering wheel buttons won’t work. I had it inspected by a local service center and it was confirmed to be the clock spring. I was informed it m…
THE CAMSHAFT LOBE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO [VIN] SHEAR OFF FROM THE CHAMSHAFT. VW'S REMEDY IS A SOFTWARE UPDATE. IT SEEMS THE CAMSHAFT SHOULD BE REDESIGNED INSTEAD. HOW WILL A SOFTWARE UPDATE FIX THIS ISSUE?
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.
- 19V615000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 15V627000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 15V705000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
- 15V028000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 14V790000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 14V670000 SEATS 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 2015 Volkswagen Jetta? What happened to yours?
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