1998 Volkswagen Cabrio problems
Owners have filed 37 complaints with NHTSA about the 1998 Volkswagen Cabrio. Body & structure is the most reported problem area, at 19% of complaints. After that come wipers, windshield & visibility (14%) and electrical system (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 37 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Body & structure 19% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 13 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 10 and 0
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%.
What the data shows
Safety-related details: 13 complaints mention a crash; 10 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 98% 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 1998 ranks 3rd most-complained-about out of 4 model years of the Volkswagen Cabrio with enough data (28 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 1 safety recall campaign.
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.
Clutch inhibitor relay was faulty--car would not start and had it towed to dealership to fix, passenger seatbelt has been replaced 3 times already, ABS light came on 4 days before accident took car into chapman's to be fixed but when I went to stop at a light I pressed on breaks and it slowed a little bit, and it didn't seem to very much so I then pressed harder and the car did not stop resulting in hitting the vehicle in front of me, passenger side mirror defroster inop, lack of power when shifting into 1, 2, and…
The top on my 1998 VW cabrio has dried out and is cracking due to a defect in the manufacturing in the vinyl used for the top. VW has refused to replace it even though I know 3 other owners locally with the same exact year/car/problem.
The alarm system does not activate on the drivers side door. The door also occasionally does not lock on the drivers side door either. You must go to the passenger side to compensate for this flaw. Additionally the drivers side window does not always go up. About half of the time, or more it goes up and then goes back down on its own. You must hold the up button for the window for it to go all the way up when its suppose to be an automatic up automatic down window.