2009 Volkswagen Beetle problems
Owners have filed 39 complaints with NHTSA about the 2009 Volkswagen Beetle. Lighting is the most reported problem area, at 15% of complaints. Next are air bags (13%) and wipers, windshield & visibility (13%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 39 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Lighting 15% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 2 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 0 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 64,000 miles 31 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 | 2 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 4 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 6 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 10 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 6 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 1 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 2 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 31 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 64,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 2 complaints mention a crash. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 88% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2009 ranks 18th most-complained-about out of 18 model years of the Volkswagen Beetle with enough data (15 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.
While slowly approaching a parking space in a shopping center my 2009 VW beetle suddenly accelerated, jumping over the curb and sidewalk, and crashing into the side of the building. It then rebounded about 6-8 feet. The passenger side airbag deployed but the driver side airbag didn't.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 volkswagen new beetle convertible. The was driving 50 MPH in rainy weather when the windshield wipers failed. The contact stopped driving to wait for the rain to stop before proceeding. The contact restarted the vehicle and the wipers began operating as normal. The contact did not take the vehicle to the dealer for diagnosis or repairs. The contact stated that the faulty wipers could have caused a crash. The failure mileage was 4,500.
Tl* the contact owns a 2009 volkswagen new beetle. The contact stated that while driving 30 MPH, he attempted to accelerate but the vehicle hesitated. The failure recurred intermittently while stopped or while driving. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer, but they were unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 500.
After a business trip into austin my vehicle started jerking when I would brake or accelerate. At first I thought it was nothing just my car acting different because the the immediate change in speed going from 85 to about 40 to exit off the interstate. On the way to houston there was no trouble until the next day.