Volvo V40 vs Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen

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	Volvo V40	Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen
Complaints on file	94	234
Model years covered	1993–2013	2008–2014
Worst model year	—	2014
Best model year	—	2009
Crashes reported	4	8
Fires reported	0	5
Injuries reported	1	5
Deaths reported	0	0
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Electrical System
Share of complaints involving harm	5.3%	7.7%

Volvo V40 by year

1 67 12 7 2 4 1

93 00 01 02 03 04 13

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

What breaks

Brakes 34 36.2%

Engine & Cooling 13 13.8%

Suspension 7 7.4%

Electrical System 6 6.4%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 5 5.3%

Transmission & Drivetrain 4 4.3%

Body & Structure 4 4.3%

Lights 4 4.3%

Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen by year

2 27 33 41 38 47 46

08 09 10 11 12 13 14

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

What breaks

Electrical System 38 16.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 34 14.5%

Suspension 24 10.3%

Brakes 23 9.8%

Engine & Cooling 21 9.0%

Other & Unspecified 21 9.0%

Airbags 20 8.5%

Transmission & Drivetrain 13 5.6%