2010 Volkswagen Golf
This year drew an ordinary 69 complaints for a Volkswagen Golf — the model's median is 28. What they were about is the unusual part: 26.1% of them mention within, against 9.3% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Volkswagen Golf was redesigned for 2010. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 69 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 28 |
| Involving a crash | 3 |
| Recalls | 4 |
| EPA combined | 29 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- within — 26.1% of this year's complaints, against 9.3% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: within, injector, whenever, spent.
- along — 8.7% of this year's complaints, against 0.9% across the other years of this generation (9.6×). Owners wrote it as: along, vehicle speed.
- complaints — 8.7% of this year's complaints, against 1.8% across the other years of this generation (4.8×). Owners wrote it as: complaints, results.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
THE MAIN (REAR) ENGINE OIL SEAL IS LEAKING WITH ONLY 51,000 MILES ON THE ODOMETER. I BELIEVE THIS IS A DEFECT OF THE ENGINE OIL SEAL OR IMPROPERLY MOUNTED FROM THE VW FACTORY. THERE HAS BEEN NUMEROUS COMPLAINTS OF THIS PROBLEM WITH VW OWNERS. THE COST OF THIS…
TAKATA RECALL - OFFICIAL RECALL IS DATED FEBRUARY 9, 2016. WE STILL HAVE NOT RECEIVED ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THIS, INCLUDING A WAY TO REMEDY THIS POTENTIALLY LIFE-THREATENING ISSUE.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V913000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 18V148000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V078000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 11V490000 FUEL SYSTEM, DIESEL Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Volkswagen Golf was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2010 Volkswagen Golf? What happened to yours?
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