2009 Volkswagen Routan
Complaints about this year name electrical system far more often than the model's other years — 17% of them, about 30× the usual rate of 0.6%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 293 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 63 |
| Involving a crash | 6 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| EPA combined | 19 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- valve — 9.2% of this year's complaints, against 1.7% across the model's other years (5.4×). Owners wrote it as: valve, tire pressure, corroded, stem.
- rotors — 13% of this year's complaints, against 4.8% across the model's other years (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: rotors, pads, shaking, brakes rotors.
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
- door — 15% of complaints, 38× usual
- since — 14% of complaints, 18× usual
- brakes — 19% of complaints, 5× usual
What owners wrote
DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD AND ALL THE LIGHTS WILL START BLINKING AND VEHICLE WILL TURN COMPLETELY OFF. NO BRAKES OR POWER STEERING WHEN THIS TAKES PLACE.UNABLE TO DRIVE BEING PREGNANT AND HAVING 3 YOUNG CHILDREN AND DO NOT FILL SAFE SINCE THIS HAPPENED GOING DOWN…
RE: SLIDING DOOR WIRING HARNESS. DEFECTIVE EXTRUSION COATING ON COOPER WIRES, WHICH IS A NON-MALLEABLE COATING PRONE TO CRACKING AND BREAKING. CAUSES FAILURE IN ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, DISABLING ELECTRONICS IN THE DOOR AND POTENTIAL GROUNDING OF VOLTAGE. THE UNDESI…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 15V194000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 14V055000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 16V083000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 14V396000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 09V244000 EQUIPMENT
- 10V252000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Volkswagen Routan 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 2009 Volkswagen Routan? What happened to yours?
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