2012 Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen problems
NHTSA has received 38 complaints about the 2012 Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen, and 16% of them involve electrical system. After that come fuel system (16%) and brakes (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 38 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 16% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 0 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 0 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 72,000 miles 24 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 | 1 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 3 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 3 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 6 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 8 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 3 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 0 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 24 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 72,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 1 complaint mentions a fire. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 90% 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 2012 ranks 2nd most-complained-about out of 6 model years of the Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen with enough data (12 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.
Tl* the contact owned a 2012 volkswagen jetta. The contact stated that after her boyfriend had driven the vehicle and parked it in her driveway; her boyfriend informed her that the vehicle was on fire. The authorities were called and the fire department arrived on the scene and extinguished the fire. There were no active warning lights illuminated on the vehicle prior to the failure. A fire report and police report were filed, no injuries were reported.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 volkswagen jetta sportwagen. The contact stated that while parked, the trunk ajar warning light illuminated and the trunk opened independently. The contact mentioned that the trunk failed to close properly. The failure occurred constantly. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the rear latch had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 37,545.
4/5/16 4:30pm, vehicle would not shut off. Brought to volkswagen dealers who diagnosed vehicle with an ignition lock cylinder housing issue. The vehicle did not stall or fail in that sense, but it is still distressing to have a fault on the ignition switch.
Car is serviced at VW dealer every 10,000 miles. At 70,000 miles they tell me my rear side door hinges are rusted and need replacement at my costs. Why would door hinges rust away? When it does rain when I open the rear doors, water does pour our the bottom of door.. Poor german engineering design? 2nd problem: they tell me my emergency/parking brake cable, etc., is rusted away. Another engineering problem? Again I'd have to pay. 3rd problem: at 73,000 miles my rear hatch will not open.
About a year ago both rear springs were broke and the dealership replaced them. About a month ago both front springs were broke and the dealership replaced them. All the replacements were done at my cost. I now have a rear right spring that has broke and will now have to have it replaced. In my over 50 years of driving different model cars and truck, I have never had spring failures such as this. I haven't hit any major pot holes that would cause this type of damage. This must be defective springs.