2013 Volkswagen Beetle problems
Owners have filed 128 complaints with NHTSA about the 2013 Volkswagen Beetle. Air bags is the most reported problem area, at 27% of complaints. Next are electrical system (15%) and engine (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 128 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 27% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 8 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 6 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 46,000 miles 75 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 | 21 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 15 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 16 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 14 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 6 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 0 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 1 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 2 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 75 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 46,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 8 complaints mention a crash; 6 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2013 ranks 11th most-complained-about out of 18 model years of the Volkswagen Beetle with enough data (59 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 6 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.
The airbags deployed on their own on 7-4-2023 in my daughter’s 2013 VW Beetle. My daughter and her friend were both injured (physically/mentally) as a result of both front airbags (steering wheel and dashboard airbags) deploying on their own causing over $10,000 USD damage to the beetle and injury to my daughter and her friend who was a passenger in the front seat.
Car would stall and abruptly stop when operating and all engine and electrical functions and safety features would turn off and not work (e.g., engine, assisted brakes, air bags, horn, running lights, brake lights, hazard lights, entire dashboard would not work). About 10 minutes later, the car would power up again and run. The problem was intermittent (it happened again) and neither the manufacturer nor dealer could find the cause.
I have noticed my center driver-side headlight dim/turn off for some time thinking the headlight was bad. I had the headlight replaced in february but still had people tell me it was out and at times I could see this in the reflection of truck tailgates, etc. The surrounding daytime running light can make it hard to tell. However, in the last couple weeks, every two to three minutes, sometimes after noticing the initial dim of the driver-side head light, all light turn off leaving the car in motion in the dark.