Vehicle Data Hub

2012 Volkswagen Passat electrical system problems

Owners reported electrical system problems in 95 complaints for the 2012 Volkswagen Passat, 14% of the complaints on file. It is the 2nd most reported problem area for this model year.

At a glance

Complaints
95 14% of this year's complaints
Typical mileage
60,000 miles 69 complaints with mileage
Crashes and fires
2 and 0
Injuries and deaths
0 and 0

Source: NHTSA owner complaints

When electrical system problems show up

Electrical system complaints by mileage, 2012 Volkswagen Passat Complaints by odometer reading in 20,000-mile steps. The median is about 60,000 miles. 0k to 20k miles: 7 complaints 20k to 40k miles: 6 complaints 40k to 60k miles: 21 complaints 60k to 80k miles: 17 complaints 80k to 100k miles: 7 complaints 100k to 120k miles: 4 complaints 120k to 140k miles: 5 complaints 140k to 160k miles: 2 complaints 160k to 180k miles: 0 complaints 180k to 200k miles: 0 complaints 200k+ miles: 0 complaints 040k80k120k160k200k miles Typical: 60,000 miles
Based on 69 complaints that include mileage. 49% were reported before 60,000 miles. The amber marker shows the median: half of these complaints happened before that mileage.
View the numbers
MileageComplaints
0k to 20k miles7
20k to 40k miles6
40k to 60k miles21
60k to 80k miles17
80k to 100k miles7
100k to 120k miles4
120k to 140k miles5
140k to 160k miles2
160k to 180k miles0
180k to 200k miles0
200k+ miles0

What the data shows

Of the 69 electrical system complaints that report mileage, the median is about 60,000 miles, and 49% were reported before 60,000 miles.

These complaints mention 2 crashes.

What owners wrote

This car has automatic transmission and from day one I wasn't un-happy with the fact that you could turn the engine off, without having switched the transmission to p. Every automatic car I ever had and I have driven many including hundreds of rental cars over the years. I reported this in 2012 to the dealer right away when the car was new but was told that this was as designed. I, in between, moved and did the same at 2 other dealers and got the same answer.

Reported at 67,000 miles, September 2015 Crash

On 8 to 10 occasions over the last two years I have lost power, I.e. The engine was running, but acted as though it were in neutral with high RPM?s. Sometimes it is intermittent and recovers power but on three occasions on a major interstate highways it has lost all power and I had to coast to the shoulder. Turning off the engine and it starts normally with full power.

Reported at 72,000 miles, July 2015

Other problems reported for the 2012 Volkswagen Passat

Electrical system problems in other years

Electrical system problems across all Volkswagen models