Coscienzios

Model years to avoid

Volkswagen Jetta

What it says about you

Opinion

German for roughly the price of Japanese, and mostly you got away with it. It drives better than it has any right to, a fact that comes up more than the situation requires.

Not measured, not from the data, and offered in fun. Everything below this is not.

23 model years on record, 7,601 complaints filed.

The years to look at closely: 2019 (transmission), 2014 (oil), 2013 (transmission), 2012 (stuck ignition), 2011 (tdi), 2010 (fuel), 2009 (fuel), 2006 (flywheel). Everything else drew a normal number of complaints for this model.

What owners report, and when

Faults that dominated the complaints of more than one model year. Not the same question as which year to avoid — a car can have an ordinary number of complaints every year and have most of them be about the same thing.

  • tdi 2010, 2011, 2012 peak 24.3% of that year's complaints
  • fuel 2009, 2010 peak 29.8% of that year's complaints
  • flywheel 2006, 2013 peak 28.4% of that year's complaints
  • transmission 2013, 2019 peak 22.1% of that year's complaints

Every year

  1. 2027 nothing on record 0 complaints
  2. 2026 1 recall 5 complaints
  3. 2025 2 recalls 23 complaints
  4. 2024 0 recalls 38 complaints
  5. 2023 0 recalls 42 complaints
  6. 2022 1 recall 42 complaints
  7. 2021 4 recalls 66 complaints
  8. 2020 6 recalls 51 complaints
  9. 2019 transmission 545 complaints
  10. 2018 3 recalls 31 complaints
  11. 2017 7 recalls 159 complaints
  12. 2016 5 recalls 161 complaints
  13. 2015 8 recalls 389 complaints
  14. 2014 oil 785 complaints
  15. 2013 transmission 1,102 complaints
  16. 2012 stuck ignition 526 complaints
  17. 2011 tdi 639 complaints
  18. 2010 fuel 875 complaints
  19. 2009 fuel 903 complaints
  20. 2008 6 recalls 190 complaints
  21. 2007 6 recalls 201 complaints
  22. 2006 flywheel 580 complaints
  23. 2005 7 recalls 248 complaints

What does a Volkswagen Jetta say about you?

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Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints — compared against itself rather than against other cars, so popularity and age do not decide the answer.