2015 Volkswagen Golf
Complaints about this year name spring far more often than the other years of this generation — 10% of them, about 14× the usual rate of 0.7%.
First year of a new generation. The Volkswagen Golf was redesigned for 2015. 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 | 349 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 28 |
| Involving a crash | 15 |
| Involving a fire | 7 |
| Recalls | 12 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 32 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- airbag — 19.2% of this year's complaints, against 7.5% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: airbag, horn, clock, clock spring.
- tdi — 8.9% of this year's complaints, against 2.1% across the other years of this generation (4.2×). Owners wrote it as: tdi, golf tdi, car dealer, sportwagen.
- shifter — 6% of this year's complaints, against 2% across the other years of this generation (3×). Owners wrote it as: shifter, dealer says.
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.
Also unusual this year
- water pump — 10% of complaints, 14× usual
- pump — 18% of complaints, 3× usual
- coil — 7% of complaints, 16× usual
What owners wrote
COOLANT LEAKING REQUIRING THERMOSTAT HOUSING [VIN] AS WELL AS NEW SENSOR AND NEW WATER PUMP.
Both Rear Coil Springs fractured. resulting in poor vehicle stability and potentially dangerous situation.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V464000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
- 18V904000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 18V329000 UNKNOWN OR OTHER Fixed free of charge.
- 19V188000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 19V615000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 16V647000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 15V627000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V412000 STEERING Fixed free of charge.
Showing 8 of 12. The rest are on NHTSA's site.
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 2015 Volkswagen Golf? What happened to yours?
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