Model years Volkswagen NEW Beetle
2005 Volkswagen NEW Beetle
Complaints about this year name transmission far more often than the model's other years — 39% of them, about 6× the usual rate of 6.7%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 261 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 56 |
| Involving a crash | 11 |
| Involving a fire | 5 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| EPA combined | 24 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- read — 6.1% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (30.7×).
- stuck — 10.7% of this year's complaints, against 3.3% across the model's other years (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: stuck, these cars, rolled.
- new transmission — 8% of this year's complaints, against 2.4% across the model's other years (3.4×). Owners wrote it as: new transmission, need new, scary, file.
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
- window — 30% of complaints, 3× usual
- window regulator — 11% of complaints, 29× usual
- rear window — 14% of complaints, 9× usual
What owners wrote
DRIVER'S SIDE REAR WINDOW REGULATOR STOPPED WORKING. WINDOW WAS STUCK DOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER. CAR WAS IN MOTION, HIT THE FRONT WINDOW BUTTON, BACK WINDOW ROLLED DOWN, WOULDN'T ROLL BACK UP.
THE DRIVERS WINDOW DOES NOT WORK. THEY ARE USING INFERIOR PARTS THAT ARE KNOWN TO BREAK. ALSO THE TRANSMISSION IS SLIPPING OUT OF GEAR WHILE DRIVING AND THE TRUNK WILL NOT WORK USING THE REMOTE.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Volkswagen NEW Beetle 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 2005 Volkswagen NEW Beetle? What happened to yours?
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