2010 Volkswagen Golf problems
Owners have filed 97 complaints with NHTSA about the 2010 Volkswagen Golf. Fuel system is the most reported problem area, at 36% of complaints. Next are engine (16%) and air bags (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 97 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Fuel system 36% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 3 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 0 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 40,000 miles 79 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 | 28 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 12 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 19 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 5 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 3 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 8 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 4 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 79 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 40,000 miles. For fuel system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 30,000 miles (32 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 3 complaints mention a crash. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 93% 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 2010 ranks 9th most-complained-about out of 20 model years of the Volkswagen Golf with enough data (74 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 4 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.
Stopped at stop light , my foot/shoe gets stuck under the brake pedal by the time I realized what happen , the car goes forward and rear ends the van in front. The way the driver is secured in the seat and the fact that the brake pedal is higher than the gas peddle, when you slide your foot over to the brake you can get your shoe/foot stuck under brake pedal, you have to lift your entire leg in order to brake.. This is potentially dangerous and will cause accidents. This is happened several times.
Air bag failed to deploy when car rear ended a towed vehicle. The towed vehicle speed was approximately 40-45 MPH and the VW golf speed was 70-75 MPH. The golf's front-end was destroyed (along with it's electrical system), and was immobilized. But, none of the airbags deployed. The tow truck driver and the body shop owner questioned why the air bags failed with the amount of damage incurred. When contacted, the VW representative was more interested in my hospital expenses than the fact the air bags didn't deploy.
I call my call Inspector Gadget because it shifts on it's own. I could be braking and it leaps forward as if I put it in 4th or 5th gear. I heard of gears "slipping" but it is the reverse - it's rev's on it's own and speed increases. I was told it might be the manifold but I can't get that confirmed from auto mechanic and it won't pass smog now.
After leasing a brand new car for 2 days (with only 221 miles on the odometer) the car engine suddenly died in the middle of the road and would not start, leading to very dangerous for life and stressful(I had two final exams coming up within 2 days coming got)situation. After the car got towed to the official VW dealership at fladeboe on june 3rd, it took them 5 days to diagnose and repair the car. There was no injector pulse and engine control module was replaced.
ABS warning lights intermittently for many months- go on and off along with airbag warning frequently- several mechanics could not diagnose. Recently brake warning lights came on at same time as ABS and airbag warnings. Brake system checked out fine. On replacement of wheel speed ABS sensor, discovered central ABS control module error (DTC 01130). VW had already issued a safety recall ( 45f2) for the ABS sensor in several 2009 and 2010 jetta/golf, but in a limited VIN range.