2011 Volkswagen Routan
Complaints about this year name fuel pump far more often than the model's other years — 22% of them, about 56× the usual rate of 0.4%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 175 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 63 |
| Involving a crash | 4 |
| Involving a fire | 2 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| EPA combined | 20 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- tipm — 36% of this year's complaints, against 5.4% across the model's other years (6.6×).
- fuel — 24% of this year's complaints, against 1.7% across the model's other years (14.4×).
- pump — 26.3% of this year's complaints, against 8.3% across the model's other years (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: pump, fuel pump, relay, pump relay.
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
- tipm — 36% of complaints, 9× usual
- start — 42% of complaints, 3× usual
- recalled — 15% of complaints, 30× usual
What owners wrote
THIS VEHICLE IS BASICALLY A CHRYSLER/DODGE WITH VW BRANDING, AND ONE OF THE KEYS IS EVEN A DODGE KEY. IT HAS THE SAME ISSUE WITH THE TIPM AND FUEL RELAY MODULE THAT WAS RECALLED ON THE 2011 CHRYSLER AND DODGE VANS. SEE FUEL PUMP RELAY RECALL NHTSA 14V-530. I'M…
MY 2011 VOLKSWAGEN ROUTAN HAS FAILED TO START ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS. THE ENGINE CRANKS WITH FULL POWER, BUT WILL USUALLY NOT TURN OVER. WHEN IT DOES TURN OVER, IT DOES NOT MAINTAIN IDLE AND SHUTS OFF WITHIN A FEW SECONDS. ELECTRICAL TESTING BY THE MECHANIC IDE…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Volkswagen Routan 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 2011 Volkswagen Routan? What happened to yours?
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