2011 Volkswagen GTI problems
Owners have filed 66 complaints with NHTSA about the 2011 Volkswagen GTI. Engine is the most reported problem area, at 32% of complaints. Next are drivetrain & axles (23%) and electrical system (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 66 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 32% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 0 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 0 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 54,000 miles 56 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 | 10 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 4 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 22 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 5 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 4 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 8 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 3 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 56 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 54,000 miles. For engine specifically, the median reported mileage is about 68,000 miles (20 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 1 complaint mentions a fire. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 94% 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 2011 ranks 18th most-complained-about out of 19 model years of the Volkswagen GTI with enough data (31 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.
I bought the car and a couple days later the dash started lighting up with a bunch of codes about exterior lights so we checked them all fine I went to the auto part store and they said that the vehichle I have has a known issue with the fuses burning so we pull the fuse and sure enough it melted and we replaced fuse drove a week longer and the fuse box caught fire so I took and had a new fuse box installed and it again is burning fuses.
The vehicle is a 2011 volkswagen gti equipped with a DSG transmission. The gti is not offered as choice when selecting vehicle model using this on-line compliant form. Occasionally the vehicle fails to accelerate or accelerates very slowly when attempting to move forward from a complete stop. When this occurs the engine revolutions will increase but with little or no forward motion, as if the transmission was in neutral.
From second day of ownership vehicle has had transmission (DSG automatic) problems. At well over 40 occurrences (in 30,000 miles) the transmission will slip into neutral when slowing to a rate of 10MPH or less and then trying to accelerate, causing an extremely unsafe condition. One instance a collision was avoided by another motorist swerving onto the sidewalk to miss my vehicle and almost struck a pedestrian when my transmission went into neutral and I coasted into the intersection.
Loss of steering control at highway speeds when trying to change from one lane to another.took it to the dealer. They found the same issue. They replaced: 1k1-423-055-mx steering and core return, 1k0-498-970-a repair set, 1k1-971-111-aj steering rack wiring harness they told me they had never seen anything like that before.
I tried to start my car, which was parked in the driveway; the battery was working fine, but the engine would not start. I had it towed to a VW mechanic the next morning, 11/9/17. The VW mechanic informed me that my timing tensioner chain had broke causing my pistons to crash into one another, causing my engine to not work and need a total rebuild. My car had given no warning, no engine lights, nothing to allude to an impending catastrophic issue involving my engine.