Volkswagen air bags problems
Across all Volkswagen models in NHTSA's complaint database, 5,091 complaints involve air bags. The Passat accounts for the largest share (33%). The single worst model year is the 2013 Passat with 382 air bags complaints.
At a glance
- Complaints
- 5,091 about air bags, all Volkswagen models
- Most affected
- Passat 33% of these complaints
- Typical mileage
- 57,000 miles 2,136 complaints with mileage
- Crashes and fires
- 636 and 18
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Which Volkswagen models
Worst model years for air bags
- 2013 Volkswagen Passat382 complaints
- 2014 Volkswagen Passat355 complaints
- 2012 Volkswagen Passat299 complaints
- 2006 Volkswagen Passat151 complaints
- 2019 Volkswagen Atlas141 complaints
Air bags complaints by model year
View the numbers
| Model year | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 1990 | 6 |
| 1992 | 1 |
| 1993 | 3 |
| 1994 | 7 |
| 1995 | 31 |
| 1996 | 2 |
| 1997 | 8 |
| 1998 | 41 |
| 1999 | 81 |
| 2000 | 161 |
| 2001 | 232 |
| 2002 | 218 |
| 2003 | 200 |
| 2004 | 146 |
| 2005 | 83 |
| 2006 | 240 |
| 2007 | 194 |
| 2008 | 76 |
| 2009 | 143 |
| 2010 | 215 |
| 2011 | 139 |
| 2012 | 553 |
| 2013 | 652 |
| 2014 | 551 |
| 2015 | 240 |
| 2016 | 161 |
| 2017 | 112 |
| 2018 | 136 |
| 2019 | 168 |
| 2020 | 38 |
| 2021 | 130 |
| 2022 | 59 |
| 2023 | 39 |
| 2024 | 18 |
| 2025 | 7 |
Among the 2,136 of these complaints that report mileage, the median is about 57,000 miles.
Complaint counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles each brand sells, so large brands naturally have more complaints.