2007 Volkswagen Jetta
This year drew an ordinary 201 complaints for a Volkswagen Jetta — the model's median is 190. What they were about is the unusual part: 17.9% of them mention brakes, against 6% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Volkswagen Jetta, which began in 2005 and ran to 2010. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 201 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 190 |
| Involving a crash | 11 |
| Involving a fire | 7 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| EPA combined | 23 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- brakes — 17.9% of this year's complaints, against 6% across the other years of this generation (3×).
- wolfsburg — 8.5% of this year's complaints, against 1.4% across the other years of this generation (5.9×). Owners wrote it as: wolfsburg, edition, jetta wolfsburg, wolfsburg edition.
- look — 8.5% of this year's complaints, against 3.2% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: look, car service, car stopped.
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
I WOULD LIKE TO FILE A COMPLAINT REGARDING MY AIR BAG WARNING INDICATOR LIGHT REMAINING ON DUE TO A FAULTY SEAT BELT. I RECENTLY TOOK MY CAR TO THE VW DEALERSHIP TO HAVE MY CAR SERVICE AND WAS TOLD THAT THE PROBLEM I AM HAVING WITH MY AIR BAG LIGHT WAS NOT INC…
I WAS DRIVING TO WORK AND I FELT SOMETHING HOT ON MY BACK AND A BURNING SMELL. I PULLED OVER TO LOOK AND I HAD TWO BURN MARKS IN MY SEAT WITH A BIG BROWN BURN MARK DOWN THE SIDE ALONG WITH IT BURNING MY CLOTHES. I IMMEDIATELY TURNED THE SEAT WARMER OFF.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V679000 UNKNOWN OR OTHER
- 20E064000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 14E007000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 10V621000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 09V164000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 07V442000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING
How this was worked out
Every year of the Volkswagen Jetta 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 2007 Volkswagen Jetta? What happened to yours?
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