Volkswagen lighting problems
Across all Volkswagen models in NHTSA's complaint database, 1,640 complaints involve lighting. The Jetta accounts for the largest share (32%). The single worst model year is the 2001 Jetta with 90 lighting complaints.
At a glance
- Complaints
- 1,640 about lighting, all Volkswagen models
- Most affected
- Jetta 32% of these complaints
- Typical mileage
- 56,000 miles 934 complaints with mileage
- Crashes and fires
- 33 and 36
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Which Volkswagen models
| Model | Complaints | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Jetta | 522 | 32% |
| Passat | 330 | 20% |
| Beetle | 204 | 12% |
| Tiguan | 128 | 8% |
| Atlas | 125 | 8% |
| Golf | 68 | 4% |
| GTI | 41 | 3% |
| ID.4 | 34 | 2% |
| Atlas Cross Sport | 32 | 2% |
| New Beetle | 29 | 2% |
Worst model years for lighting
- 2001 Volkswagen Jetta90 complaints
- 2021 Volkswagen Atlas68 complaints
- 2002 Volkswagen Jetta62 complaints
- 2013 Volkswagen Passat60 complaints
- 2003 Volkswagen Passat45 complaints
Lighting complaints by model year
View the numbers
| Model year | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 1990 | 1 |
| 1991 | 1 |
| 1992 | 6 |
| 1993 | 8 |
| 1994 | 1 |
| 1995 | 28 |
| 1996 | 3 |
| 1997 | 3 |
| 1998 | 55 |
| 1999 | 70 |
| 2000 | 76 |
| 2001 | 190 |
| 2002 | 142 |
| 2003 | 93 |
| 2004 | 64 |
| 2005 | 47 |
| 2006 | 65 |
| 2007 | 28 |
| 2008 | 46 |
| 2009 | 55 |
| 2010 | 63 |
| 2011 | 93 |
| 2012 | 47 |
| 2013 | 87 |
| 2014 | 39 |
| 2015 | 17 |
| 2016 | 14 |
| 2017 | 10 |
| 2018 | 36 |
| 2019 | 41 |
| 2020 | 15 |
| 2021 | 106 |
| 2022 | 35 |
| 2023 | 31 |
| 2024 | 17 |
| 2025 | 5 |
| 2026 | 2 |
Among the 934 of these complaints that report mileage, the median is about 56,000 miles.
Complaint counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles each brand sells, so large brands naturally have more complaints.