212 of the
2,009 complaints filed about the Volkswagen Golf
are about the electrical system —
11% of everything owners reported.
The worst model year for it is 2011.
Driving my 2017Golf the check engine light came on. The light was steady. I called my dealer and got it in for service. They report to me that the Thermostat housing needs to be replaced and oxygen sensors need replacing also. I just had the manifold replaced 6 weeks ago. I found on line that this is a common problem . Why isn’t this a Recall Repair?
NHTSA complaint #11735790 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Since shortly after purchase, the vehicle has experienced intermittent drivability and shifting issues along with repeated EPC and check engine warnings. Diagnostic trouble code P0111 (intake air temperature plausibility) has been present along with other electrical and engine management faults. A Volkswagen dealership diagnosis indicated that the intake air temperature sensor and an additional engine insulation “hood blanket” component (not originally installed on the vehicle) are required to address the issue. These components were presented as necessary to correct the fault and resolve intermittent shifting behavior. The shifting issue is intermittent but occurs during normal driving and raises safety concerns due to unpredictable drivability and transmission behavior. The vehicle continues to exhibit warning lights and unresolved performance issues despite multiple repair attempts. The dealership has not identified a clear root cause, and prior repairs including sensor and EVAP-related components have not resolved the condition. Given the involvement of transmission-related drivability concerns and repeated unresolved electronic faults affecting engine performance, I am filing this complaint as a potential safety-related defect affecting normal vehicle operation.
NHTSA complaint #11733997 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
I have been having rear cameras for quite some time. The first time I took it to the dealer they could not find any issues and told me to take pictures. I did, plenty of them. Monday 10-27 2025 I took it in again for the gas tank issue and camera issue. Being disabled due to serious spine issues I had to minimize waiting time. The dealer preformed a radio update per 91-19-02 & MIB2 composition & discovered media info system malfunctions. I am currently under VW extended warranty 10 year 100000 mi but they charged me $225.00 for the update. This is exactly the same issue for recall #91SB. Apparently the issue goes back further than the recall, I believe that these issues were swept under the rug. Any help would be appreciated. [XXX] VW [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] I believe that the recall is the tip of a very large problem INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA complaint #11696492 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Failure of wheel speed sensor in front right wheel. This is the THIRD time I have had a wheel speed sensor fail on this car, which has 35,000 miles on it. Failure caused loss of power steering, airbags, abs, etc.
NHTSA complaint #11610366 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Infotainment center will randomly go into "component protection" mode, and the center console will become stuck in a loop of rebooting. While component protection is active, the following systems become unavailable: Backup camera, radio, climate controls, advanced driver assist systems, park assist system, drive mode button, cruise control Situations that have occurred to me personally: Climate control fan becomes stuck on high, radio stops functioning, radio power button does not respond, parking menu button does not respond, car drive mode button does not respond, advanced driver sensor assist button does not respond, climate control button does not respond. Attempt to resolve this issue through Volkswagen certified technicians 6+ times.
NHTSA complaint #11583431 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
My VW golf has experienced rear door lock issues where both rear dock locks no longer work (lock or unlock) when pressing the lock button on the key or inside the vehicle. The only way to get the doors to lock is by manually locking the doors via a little slot in the door sill on each side. While it can be unlocked internally by just pulling the handle one time. This is a safety issue as door locks are a necessity for a vehicle to prevent theft of vehicle or items inside. It can also cause safety concerns for passengers in the rear(which is usually children. This also poses a danger to children due to the ease of unlocking from inside the rear passenger seats. The problem was confirmed to be the rear door latches via a dealer on 2/23/2024, however after replacing both latches with new parts, nothing was resolved. This issue is not the first time, as it is known that VW locks and many electrical components may randomly stop working, I have experienced the issue with a previous Volkswagen vehicle as well (2009 VW Jetta). There are no warning lights on the dashboard or other signs of the failure.
NHTSA complaint #11577026 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Travel Assist is disabled which includes Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Keep Assist. The warning lights flash on and off, sometimes multiple times a second, sounding a loud beeping each time. It is triggered at engine start and persists through all speeds. I have experienced it 0-70 mph. The flashing lights and associated rapid beeping indicating the failure is extremely distracting while driving. Warning lights and warning sounds are designed to alert the driver to a potential safety issue so ignoring the lights and sounds is dangerous in the event it is a different caution/warning. However, also not ignoring it is dangerous because of the frequency of the warnings which causes the driver to look away from the road. After speaking with the maintenance department at my VW dealership, they indicated that this is a widely known problem that is remedied only with the replacement of the steering wheel. There are several other sensors that are triggered by the same issue I was told by the maintenance department. They are uncertain at this time if it impacts the airbag system which is another potential safety concern. The steering wheel can only be ordered after inspection by the maintenance department and there is shortage and/or back order of the part to fix the problem. I also drive my car quite often since it’s the car I use to commute to work and it is 70 miles each way (140 miles round trip) so there is no warranty anymore as I have exceeded mileage so they will not repair. This is a huge safety concern and very known issue with this model car.
NHTSA complaint #11576559 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Travel Assist is disabled which includes Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Keep Assist. The warning lights flash on and off, sometimes multiple times a second, sounding a loud beeping each time. It is triggered at engine start and persists through all speeds. I have experienced it 0-70 mph. The flashing lights and associated rapid beeping indicating the failure is extremely distracting while driving. Warning lights and warning sounds are designed to alert the driver to a potential safety issue so ignoring the lights and sounds is dangerous in the event it is a different caution/warning. However, also not ignoring it is dangerous because of the frequency of the warnings which causes the driver to look away from the road. After speaking with the maintenance department at my VW dealership, they indicated that this is a widely known problem that is remedied only with the replacement of the steering wheel. There are several other sensors that are triggered by the same issue I was told by the maintenance department. They are uncertain at this time if it impacts the airbag system which is another potential safety concern. The steering wheel can only be ordered after inspection by the maintenance department and there is shortage and/or back order of the part to fix the problem
NHTSA complaint #11569645 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
I was coming back from work and was driving on the highway at around 80 mph. All of a sudden, literally out of nowhere, the car started shaking violently, and the steering wheel was shaking super fast violently (vibrating) and was very heavy and hard to move. Also, the D started flashing. I was struggling to control the car. I noticed that the Abs light, steering light, suspension light for DCC, and a whole bunch of other lights except the engine light. The car was in custom mode. Sport steering and sport Suspension, Normal for powertrain. All windows and sunroof were fully open, and music was playing. When all this occurred, I could hear outside the car something that sounded like metal tinging or metal contact. idk. This was while the car was still moving. When I pulled over, all the lights went away. I turned off the car for a few minutes and turned it back on. The lights did not come back, and it drove like nothing ever happened. The car is currently at VW Dealership awaiting a response from VW helpline (VTA) as of 1/17/24. I have been doing research on this issue and I have found multiple VW GTI/R owners who are currently and/or have experienced this issue. A Golf R (Model year 2018) owner with about 19.5k miles said "The real problem was the electric power assist motor, the part that controls how heavy the steering is when you change modes. But it can't be serviced. So the whole thing has to be swapped. It needed the entire power steering rack assembly replaced". He took this to a VW dealership and was covered under warranty. I strongly believe VW needs to release a recall for this as it is very dangerous to happen while driving especially at highway speeds like it did to me and many others.
NHTSA complaint #11565903 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
The contact owns a 2019 VW Golf. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V604000(Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The local dealer was contacted and it was confirmed that the part was not available. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced the failure. The VIN tool confirms parts not available.
NHTSA complaint #11562500 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Infotainment system fails to start/load. Infotainment screen provides multiple error messages such and “component protection active” and/ or “you can activate this function at dealer” and subsequently becomes inoperable, including multiple safety related features: Back up/ rear view camera freezes image or does not turn on at all. Autonomous emergency braking (front assist) fail light comes on. Park distance control fail light comes on. Have been to the VW dealer on two different occasions for these issues specifically and the systems and problems not resolved. They reset/ updated the infotainment system at 1st visit. System failed again/ unresolved. Took back to dealer and they called VW corporate for help. Picked up from 2nd visit and systems promptly failed again. Online search suggests common, unresolved problem. Thank you for aiding consumers in resolving these safety issues
NHTSA complaint #11559395 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
I turn my vehicle on and immediately and presented with a message on the dashboard display: "SOS Emergency Call Function Not Available: See Dealer." indicating that the emergency call function of the vehicle is not working and inaccessible. The problem was reproduced/observed by my Volkswagen dealer and was inspected/confirmed to be defective. There was no indication before this warning message that there was an issue with the emergency call function in the vehicle. Without this safety feature, I am unable to make an emergency call if I/my family are in an accident putting us and others in danger. The original issue was reported to my Volkswagen dealer in September, 2023 and I was told the part is "on backorder" with no promised date when it would become available. The part involved is number J949 - Emergency Call and Communication Unit.
NHTSA complaint #11558354 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
I smelled a strong odor coming from the heater that turned out to be burnt plastic and wiring associated with the auxiliary heater. This is an obvious fire/ smoke hazard that could have been deadly if other nearby components caught fire.
NHTSA complaint #11556818 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
I have errors popping up on my dashboard. It says “travel assist is currently not available “ or “emergency assist is currently not available “ . This does not happen every time I drive the vehicle but it happens quite frequently. When it happens It flashes and beeps constantly for a couple of minutes or even longer. Sometimes it beeps during the whole 30+ minutes trip. There is no way to turn it off. This is not just an annoyance but also a safety concern because it’s distracting. I brought my car to the dealership in September and after a couple of days they said that they’re not able to reproduce the problem. The problem still exists
NHTSA complaint #11550737 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Having consistent issues with safety features and infotainment system that locks up with errors. Since new my VW Gti has been experiencing drivers' assistants' issues. At times the backup camera does not work. At times the the whole infotainment system will have various different errors that prevent any of the safety features to be turned on. The errors don't easily go away unless turning off the car and trying to restart it all.
NHTSA complaint #11547917 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
* "Starter system faulty", currently the supposedly damaged part has already been replaced * When this fault appears, all the vehicle's electrical instruments stop working, lights, radio, air conditioning, reversing camera, security systems, but the vehicle's engine remains on, this happens a few minutes after starting the car and the cabin. is above 90 degrees temperature. * part 5Q1.905.865 is defective under high temperatures. * No, but you can search for information on the Internet with the part number 5q1 905 865 and you will find hundreds of complaints from VOLKSWAGEN vehicle owners with this same problem. * The warning appears on the dashboard screen and in 3 seconds all the vehicle's electronic instruments turn off but the engine continues to run
NHTSA complaint #11544677 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
While driving suddenly falsely detects obstructions and auto brakes , the acc system entirely turns on and off while driving , same with forward collision and lane keep assist. The dangers I’m having of auto braking on false obstructions is unfit for driving daily and is causing a road hazard as it almost has made me have accidents.
NHTSA complaint #11531206 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.