2012 Volkswagen Jetta owner complaints

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 Volkswagen jetta. While starting the vehicle, the contact noticed a burning odor emitting from inside the vehicle. The engine compartment caught fire. The fire department was able to extinguish the fire. A police report was not filed. The vehicle was towed to an auto body repair center, but was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 55,000.

Coolant came then went off after shutting off car turning back then 3days later engine light came on while driving pulled over turnt car off turned on after 5 mins engine light cut off. 2 days later engine light came back on. *tr

Upon entering an on-ramp and also accelerating around a turn, experienced no response to depression of gas pedal. Basically car had serious lag before taking off. Worried about safety issue when trying to get out of someone's way. Very unpredictable in occurrence and do not want to have a wreck. Also experienced "stuttering" around 30 MPH as if vehicle did not know which gear to get into. This happens frequently and creates a physical shutter of vehicle felt by driver and passengers. *tr

Tl* the contact owned a 2012 Volkswagen jetta. The contact stated that after her boyfriend had driven the vehicle and parked it in her driveway; her boyfriend informed her that the vehicle was on fire. The authorities were called and the fire department arrived on the scene and extinguished the fire. There were no active warning lights illuminated on the vehicle prior to the failure. A fire report and police report were filed, no injuries were reported. Due to the fire, the vehicle was towed by insurance to an insurance auto auction where the vehicle had been deemed destroyed. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed her that there were no recalls on the vehicle; they offered no further assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 81,000.

This problem is diesel engine specific: -engine starts, then when pulling away, stalls immediately. -towed after multiple restart attempts failed dealer found water and sludge in intercooler, aka, intercooler icing. Car spent overnight in warm service bay while it thawed out. Vw has tsb for issue but I was told by the dealer that it doesn't fix it. Wow. *tr

Front driver side door will intermittently fail to lock and/or unlock with key fob or lock/unlock buttons in the cabin (began approx 6/20/2018 at approx 43,000 miles). Must use the key in exterior key hole to manually lock or unlock, but while key is in the ignition it is impossible to lock the door manually as there is no manual lock switch only power lock switch. Every time any door is unlocked and the driver goes from 0mph past about 10mph the car automatically tries to lock but fails. This is a safety hazard form carjacking, as there is no way to manually lock the doors from inside the cabin. At approx 46,400 miles (11/8/2018) the front passenger door experienced similar issues. It will intermittently fail to lock with key fob or lock/unlock buttons in the cabin, and the car will at

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 Volkswagen jetta. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the horn failed to function. The contact stated that the horn functioned intermittently. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 35,000.

The locking system is hit and miss at this time. The automatic locks do not lock all the doors. Sometimes the trunk will not open, either using the fob, or the trunk release. The windows don't always work either. Child lock doors can be unlocked. I am planning on taking it in for service, however, VW charges $165 just to do a diagnostic check and cannot give me a range of what it could cost to repair. I am a senior on a budget. I have seen identical complaints on the internet for this vehicle and cannot understand why there hasn't been a recall. If I spend the money to get this repaired and then there's a recall, do I get my money back from VW?

The car runs great for about 5-10 miles and then the epc light comes on and the car loses power and runs at idle speed. Replaced np 80 sensor and EVAP canister, cleaned throttle body and it still happens. Car lunges forward at times. I'll pull over, shut it off and then it drives fine, then the light comes on again. Apparently this has been happening to a lot of people. Took it to the dealership and they just gave me a bunch of costly repair recommendations but no definitive answer.

Starting as the warranty expired at 40k miles, my horn became intermittent. It would work fine for a while, then completely stop for a period; sometimes a week or so. But as time progressed, it was not working more than working. By 50k miles it not longer worked and now at 60k it hasn't worked for a long time. Very dangerous. Dealer said twice they would try to get it fixed but never came through. So with my diesel "good will" package, I will use the $500 credit to replace my horn that they should have replaced earlier. Lot's of people online have the same problem. I think it's part of the 2011 recall for horn and alarm system problems, don't think they carried through with the problem.

I was driving on a county road when I began to lose power. There was traffic behind me. My car began to shake and make a loud knocking sound as it countinued to coast. As soon as I was able to begin to pull to the shoulder, my car completely and violently died. It would not restart, leaving me stranded and causing upcoming traffic to avoid me. The dealership states it is high pressure fuel pump failure. The analysis of fuel shows a lubricity failure, which the dealership stated was due to metal shavings. It was negative for gasoline and has not been mis-fueled. There has been multiple reports of these failures, which cause the metal shavings to contaminate the fuel system. Vw has extended coverage to these pumps, but does not take responsibility for the ongoing failures. "not passing the l

Per dealer vehicle has non-functioning horn and high-beam headlights apparently due to clock spring failure. In addition, water instruction (of as yet unknown origin) has rusted brake, steering, and dash components. Tdi recall/repair/sale and was last perhaps last sold by and serviced at vw dealer 08/2020.

The steering wheel often locks and the key gets stuck in the ignition. Sometimes I have to drive around a bit and try parking and taking the key out again. Often the wheels have to be straight to ease the process.

The car unintentionally accelerates and there seems to be an issue with the clutch disengaging at highway speeds. The car has 42k miles on it and the dealer wants a per-authorization signed of $1600 before they will look at the issue. Unsafe and insane!

Glow plug warning light flashed and check engine light came on accompanied by a loss of power while driving. Dealership diagnosed the problem as a failure of the high pressure fuel pump. *tr

There is a serious design flaw in the rear axle of this vehicle whereby road debris can strike the axle causing it to bend. I think the design flaw is two-fold. 1. The axle is placed in such a manner that it is totally unprotected from road debris. 2. The metal of the axle and trailing arms is not hardened to a strong enough degree to withstand debris strikes and subsequent stress. Driving at highway speeds, I ran over a 4-6" piece of two by four or possibly angle iron (not sure which). The object was kicked up by the front cowling. The object made multiple impact strikes under the car from front to back as evidenced by the markings left on the aluminum covered insulation that covers the undercarriage, ultimately striking the rear axle, causing it to bend. The bend in the axle is f

Windshield wipers will not turn on when temperatures reach below 30 degrees. Happens at initial start up. A real safety issue. When temperatures are above 30 degrees this doesn't happen.

When starting my 2012 vw jetta, the ABS light, brake light, passenger air bag light come on on the dashboard along with a long beeping sound. The sound eventually stops but the lights stay on. Vehicle is trying to run through diagnostics upon starting (vehicle is stationary but lights remain on while driving) when these lights come on. The brakes on the vehicle are fine and do not need to be serviced per mechanic and vw. Personal mechanic along with authorized vw service pulled the following codes: 01130 ABS operation not a plausible signal, 01317 control module, 01285 cluster, 01486 system function test failure. Vehicle mileage is approximately 63k. ABS module failure has been a known issue with these vehicles and there are tbs's and technical tips for troubleshooting as well as a r

Driving home at night, both lowbeam headlights stopped working. The daytime running lamps still worked as did the high beams. I replaced one of the headlights with a new buld, and it still did not work