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Volkswagen · NHTSA safety record

2025 Volkswagen Jetta

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

23

Complaints

4

Crashes

0

Fires

1

Injuries

0

Deaths

Owners of the 2025 Volkswagen Jetta have filed 23 safety complaints with NHTSA between February 2025 and July 2026. The most complained-about system is the power train, named in 6 of them (26%).

NHTSA has issued 2 recalls covering this vehicle.

Recalls (2)

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: INSTRUMENT CLUSTER/PANEL

26V185000 · March 25, 2026

The defect
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2025 Jetta and Taos vehicles. The instrument panel may fail to display warning lights or gauges. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 101, "Control and Displays."
The risk
An instrument panel that does not display critical safety information, such as the speedometer or warning lights, can increase the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will update the instrument panel software and replace the instrument panel as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed May 22, 2026. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 90Z5. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov on March 22, 2026.

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. · up to 75,323 vehicles across all model years covered

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM:WIRING

26V138000 · March 11, 2026

The defect
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain 2025-2026 Jetta vehicles. The transmission ground wire may not have been properly connected during assembly, causing an open electrical circuit.
The risk
An open circuit may draw a higher current and increase the risk of a fire.
The remedy
Dealers will inspect and repair transmission ground wire as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed March 31, 2026. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's number for this recall is 97TC. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall became searchable on NHTSA.gov on March 13, 2026.

Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. · up to 48,165 vehicles across all model years covered

What owners report

Complaints naming each system. One complaint can name several, so these add up to more than 23.

POWER TRAIN 6 26%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 5 22%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 4 17%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 3 13%
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 3 13%
ENGINE 1 4%
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 1 4%
SEAT BELTS 1 4%
SERVICE BRAKES 1 4%
STEERING 1 4%
STRUCTURE 1 4%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 4%

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2026 at 14.

2025 2026
2025 to 2026, the last of them a part year

In owners' own words

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

STRUCTURE:BODY

1 injured

At least 5 times I have had my finger caught in the drivers side interior door handle release. It seems to catch my fingers in the back of the handle. I've owned 4 other VW Jettas and this has never happened. It 's mostly aggravating but it also hurts!

NHTSA complaint 11719955. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SEAT BELTS

crash · towed

Car was in an accident on 12/5/25 and has been in the body shop for over 5 months because Volkswagen cannot or will not provide the required rear seat belts. I have reached out to VW and they have not been cooperative and don’t seem to care about me or that these are required safety parts. VW has no ETA on when parts will be available.

NHTSA complaint 11732758. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

STEERING

crash

The steering wheel is the principal reason for this incident. Because when I'm driving on the highway almost to get an exit to the right going at the speed limit of 70 MPH the right tire passes through a high/low on the street, then my steering wheel locked lightly and started to pull to the right like for 2-3 seconds. Causing me hit the wall on the highway. Then straightened itself back, I'm just desacelerate the car and go down to see if the tire is the problem, but not really this is a risky fail on this car i feel insecure to drive it again and take the highway. I feel under risk cause its a highway with a lot of traffic of cargo trucks going more than 75 MPH Im available any day for

NHTSA complaint 11706859, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM

crash

Two safety defect incidents involving unintended acceleration. This defect has resulted in two loss of control incidents causing property damage. First incident: While attempting to move vehicle inside garage, I started engine with foot firmly on the brake, shifted the transmission into drive, and maintained full brake pressure. Immediately upon shifting, the vehicle bolted forward at an accelerate rate, despite my foot remaining fully depressed on brake. Vehicle travel about 30 feet in only a few second, coming within three feet of a structural cinder-block wall supporting house beams before braking force finally overcame the surge. Avoided a serious collision required immediate corrective

NHTSA complaint 11707114, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER
2025 Jetta Sport completely loses acceleration on straightaways and during turns, creating an intersection collision hazard. Severe drivability and safety hazard. It drops power during turns, which exposes me to oncoming traffic. Also when I press the gas, the car does not want to go.

NHTSA complaint 11753749. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SERVICE BRAKES
The brake pads that are being used on Volkswagen are semi metallic and that causes the brakes to make a grinding noise which the dealer says is common on volkswagen. The problem you cannot tell if brakes need replacement. I have had my vehicle in service dept twice for the same problem. The noise is a grinding noise and that is a safety hazard. Now I have a warrantey on the entire car and I was told I have to pay 1100 dollars to have it repaired.

NHTSA complaint 11752734. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN
There is a noticable whine from the transmission or torque converted between 1000-2000 RPM that does not vary with speed and noticable when lightky pressing gas pedal on 8th geer. This happens only when transmission is waremed up and indicates an issue with 2025 Volkswagen tranmissions. I am afraid to drive it, because it can go bad in the highway and cause crash. Volkswagen dealers and manufacturer ignore this issues and state that all Jetta's make that "hormonic" whine. This is not normal and should be reported and investigated. Too many issues and could cause loss of lives in the future.

NHTSA complaint 11742974. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN
When I push the gas pedal the car does nothing for seconds. I was trying to do a u turn and pushed the gas to go and nothing for to long and almost got hit. It also did it trying to pull out into busy traffic that would have been no problem if the car would move when you push the gas. The car does not respond forever when pushing gas. I took to dealer to today and of course, they found nothing and said that's how those cars are. It has 20,000 miles. There is no way this is how they are. I'm going to end up getting hit at some point over it. No lights come on in the dashboard when it happens. It is available for inspection.

NHTSA complaint 11737393. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The contact owns a 2025 Volkswagen Jetta. The contact stated while the vehicle was parked, the infotainment screen was darkened and inoperative. There were several different unknown warning lights were illuminated. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: (example: 26V185000 (Electrical System) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted however, the dealer confirmed the remedy was not yet available. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure.

NHTSA complaint 11736290. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN
I was going down the highway and enable cruise control, the car fell like RPM dropped then suddenly jolted back. Also when driving it feels like the transmission isnt proper and yoy can feel it be shotty. I've asked the dealer and they said "this is normal the camera may see a bump and cause it to slow down" but this has happened without the ACC and on normal cruise control mode. I think this can pose a saftey risk as this could cause further transmission and or engine damage and cause a failure in highways leading to a risk.

NHTSA complaint 11734462. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Volkswagen Jetta

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2024 39 0
2023 42 0
2022 42 1
2021 66 4 2
2020 51 6
2019 545 11
2018 31 2
2017 159 6 1
2016 160 4
2015 193 7
2014 386 4
2013 516 4
2012 499 5
2011 606 7
2010 852 4

Other 2025 Volkswagen models

Every Volkswagen on this site — 152 vehicles, 256 recall campaigns and 2 open investigation s.

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. What each state asks for , read from the statutes.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

Compiled and maintained by
Independent developer and analyst