2012 Volkswagen Routan problems
NHTSA has received 115 complaints about the 2012 Volkswagen Routan, and 34% of them involve electrical system. Next are engine (18%) and fuel system (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 115 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Electrical system 34% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 2 and 0
- Injuries and deaths
- 3 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 78,000 miles 81 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 | 13 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 1 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 12 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 19 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 12 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 9 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 3 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 8 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 4 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 81 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 78,000 miles. For electrical system specifically, the median reported mileage is about 77,000 miles (29 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 2 complaints mention a crash; 3 injuries reported. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 86% 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 4th most-complained-about out of 4 model years of the Volkswagen Routan with enough data (35 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.
I was in a pretty bad car accident 4/5/2019 with 6 kids in the car and none of the airbags deployed.. We were I motion when car infront of me tried to avoid the car in front of him. I saw him and I tried to avoid him so my left front hit his rear right side. None of the airbags deployed and now I have a horrible concussion in the hospital!
Driver steering wheel airbag deployed while parking van at work. Nothing was hit just went off causing burns and wrist pain and swelling. Wife stated that the front windshield wipers started turning on randomly while driving to work and then airbag blew while parking.
Takata recall. Having problems starting van on first try. Van will stall a few times before starting. Sometimes the battery is drain. Battery has been tested=good! This has been happening for 3 months. I after reading and researching I come to a conclusion that it is the tipm fuel relay!
Van randomly goes to 3rd on the highway. Going to neutral and back to drive corrects the issue. Van will not start/crank randomly. Van turns off on the highway randomly. Random "enter security code" on the nav system. 129k miles on it. Chrysler recalled caravan's and the town and country for these same issues. The tipm needs to be replaced. Filing a complaint with corporate VW to have them correct this massive safety issue as chrysler has done. [link removed]