2008 Volkswagen Jetta problems
The 2008 Volkswagen Jetta has 251 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (17%) concerns electrical system. After that come transmission (11%) and drivetrain & axles (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 251 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 17% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 7 and 6
- Injuries and deaths
- 5 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 62,000 miles 212 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 | 49 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 31 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 22 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 19 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 29 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 27 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 10 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 6 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 9 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 5 |
| 200k+ miles | 5 |
What the data shows
Among the 212 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 62,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 90,000 miles (34 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 7 complaints mention a crash; 6 complaints mention a fire; 5 injuries reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2008 ranks 22nd most-complained-about out of 35 model years of the Volkswagen Jetta with enough data (139 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.
While my sister which is currently pregnant, was driving my jetta the heated seat overheated. The heated seats became so hot that it burned the seat, her jacket and her skin. She received 1st -2nd degree burns on her back.
A car hit me when I was stop trying to make a left hand turn. They hit me on the left front corner of my car . Took out my front end. My air bags did not go off.
I was driving to work one morning and it started to smell like something was burning. I thought maybe it was just a weird smell in my vents but within 10 minutes of driving a cloud of smoke filed the driver side of my car. Luckily I was not on the highway yet and I was able to pull over and shut off the car. Not knowing where the smoke came from I immediately got out of the car. It when then that I looked down and saw the source of the smoke, there was a quarter size hole in my driver seat.
Changed rear brake pads because of squeaking noise. After that brake started to lock and smoke coming out of rear passenger side. Went back to my mechanic and was told could be problem with caliper. Changed caliper and brake locked again with more smoke and smell of burn coming from rear passenger side. Had car towed to mechanic and they adjusted brakes. Took car to VW dealer and was told nothing was wrong with brakes.
While merging onto the freeway, as I reached 60MPH the car lunged and the engine began revving over 6000RPM. It felt like the car was stuck in 3rd gear. The gear/drive mode display LED began flashing constantly. The car would not shift up to a higher gear so I moved into slower lanes and kept the car at about 5000rpm/55MPH until it was safe to stop. The car geared down as I decelerated but appeared to skip a gear and lunged at each shift. I tried switching between drive and sport mode but there was no change.