FaultScore

Volkswagen Passat vs Jeep Wrangler

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure Volkswagen Passat Jeep Wrangler
Complaints on file 10,333 22,900
Model years covered 1990–2022 1986–2026
Worst model year 2003 2021
Best model year 1994 2025
Crashes reported 332 779
Fires reported 366 736
Injuries reported 263 477
Deaths reported 13 26
Most complained-about part Airbags Steering
Share of complaints involving harm 9.4% 8.8%

Volkswagen Passat by year

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Airbags 1,660 16.1%
Engine & Cooling 1,590 15.4%
Electrical System 1,195 11.6%
Brakes 1,022 9.9%
Fuel & Propulsion 1,018 9.9%
Steering 584 5.7%
Suspension 416 4.0%

Jeep Wrangler by year

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Steering 3,528 15.4%
Electrical System 2,962 12.9%
Engine & Cooling 2,738 12.0%
Fuel & Propulsion 2,562 11.2%
Suspension 1,593 7.0%
Airbags 1,481 6.5%
Other & Unspecified 1,301 5.7%