1998 Volkswagen Beetle problems
Owners have filed 289 complaints with NHTSA about the 1998 Volkswagen Beetle. Electrical system is the most reported problem area, at 22% of complaints. Next are wipers, windshield & visibility (13%) and engine (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 289 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 22% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 25 and 27
- Injuries and deaths
- 10 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 56,000 miles 80 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 9 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 8 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 27 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 13 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 13 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 5 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 3 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 2 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 80 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 56,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 59,000 miles (14 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 25 complaints mention a crash; 27 complaints mention a fire; 10 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 1998 ranks 3rd most-complained-about out of 18 model years of the Volkswagen Beetle with enough data (171 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Consumer was at stop when she was rearended at point of contact, the driver seatback broke, causing the seat to fall backwards, resulting in injuires.
Battery problem. I stopped at signal and when I restarted the engine stopped and I was almost rear end. The ABS and brake lights came on. The car was towed. Apparently the battery was falling out of the car at 13,000 miles. A few months later I heard a noise and slipping within the transmission. As it turned out, engine coolant had leaked into the transmission and a rebuilt was put in. Within a few weeks after the rebuilt was put in, it was making some noise and it had intermittent lurching.
I"ve had multiple failures with my 1998 beetle. The car was overheating--found out that the engine fuses were melted over the battery terminal. My reverse lights stopped working--no one has been able to correct that yet, my daytime running lights don't usually work, but sometimes will come on all by themselves. Got locked in my car twice. The alarm sometimes goes off for no reason. The car periodically doesn't start. Had it towed to VW twice for this. They could find no problems.
Headlights will go out while in use without warning. When vehicle is in cruise control mode it will either surge or continue to accelerate. Dealership stated they need to separate the engine and transmission in order to fix the problem. The windshield wiper works intermittently. The dealership replaced the motor but the problem recurred. Consumer noted he has seen a lot of one headlight beetles and that the problem is widespread.