2006 Volkswagen Jetta problems
The 2006 Volkswagen Jetta has 792 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (18%) concerns drivetrain & axles. After that come electrical system (14%) and transmission (14%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 792 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Drivetrain & axles 18% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 21 and 10
- Injuries and deaths
- 28 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 76,000 miles 694 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 | 96 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 82 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 82 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 100 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 116 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 83 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 50 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 24 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 18 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 20 |
| 200k+ miles | 23 |
What the data shows
Among the 694 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 76,000 miles. For drivetrain & axles specifically, the median reported mileage is about 75,000 miles (133 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 21 complaints mention a crash; 10 complaints mention a fire; 28 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2006 ranks 7th most-complained-about out of 35 model years of the Volkswagen Jetta with enough data (504 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.
I was sitting in my (drivers) seat and noticed a faint burning smell followed by pain (burning) in my right side. I got home and found a burn hole in the back of the seat. Something burnt through the seat and burnt my clothes and gave me a small blister. Neither of us smoke. After a few times I believe it is the seat heater. If it's off it doesn't burn you. A mechanic told us this is common and to followup on it.
I was in 2 accidents I don't remember the dates, but one was in the latter part of 2010 and another was in 2008. In both accidents the air bags failed to deploy, the air bag light never goes off, even before the accidents. I had this light reset about 3 times, the first time was through the dealer and the others where through auto mechanic shop. The dealer wants to charge me $250 to fix the light problem, they say it has something to do with the seat belt buckle.
Wife stated that when she hit brakes it was hard to stop car ,did not slow, rear ended a SUV at about 30 MPH which pushed front end up to windshield above bumper, pushed engine into firewall. She incurred major seat belt bruising with no air bag deployment. After inspection the insurance company found that two sensors had been distorted along with cracked engine mounts and bent cradle. They totaled the car due in part to no air bag deployment,t and felt that the car would be unsafe after repairs.
2006 volkswagen jetta 54000 miles 5 speed manual transmission. I was driving and while exiting a freeway offramp I depressed the clutch to disengage the transmission. Clutch pedal went to the floor and would not come back up and it did not disengage the transmission. The car would not stop, as I could not put the car in neutral. Very dangerous!
Passenger, driver door and sunroof wiring harness short. Affects windows and locks, window will intermittently not roll up or down and the door locks will not lock. Jiggling the wiring harness gasket seems to resolve the issue each time it occurs. Sunroof will open to vent automatically without any buttons being pushed.