10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
29,984 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2012 Volkswagen Beetle miscellaneous problems

miscellaneous problem

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2012 Volkswagen Beetle Owner Comments

problem #6

Jul 302022

Beetle

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

After getting in my car and turning on the ignition, I put my foot on the brake. After pulling the gear shift out of park and as I am taking my foot off the brake pedal, sometimes the car would jump a little as if has a glitch in the shifting from park to the next gear.

- Bronx, NY, USA

problem #5

Aug 192020

Beetle

  • 100,000 miles
While the car was in motion the steering locked up, preventing any kind of turning of the steering wheel, causing a catosrophic crash injuring the driver on a city street.

- Montclair, CA, USA

problem #4

May 282019

Beetle

  • 75,000 miles
The timing tensioner broke causing damage to the engine. Volkswagen paid for timing and 60% of engine work. Shortly after I noticed I needed to add oil and right after an oil change the oil would be low. Meanwhile the oil light never came on. Now Volkswagen dealership says the pvc is bad and when questioned about it they claim they never touched the pvc. I find that hard to believe since they replaced the upper part of my engine. The engine was fixed December of 2018. I just took it to the dealership today. May 28, 2019.

- Gastonia, NC, USA

problem #3

Apr 012015

Beetle

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Purchased 2012 VW Beetle in 2014 used and service engine light came on 6shortly after. Dealer replaced secondary air injector sensor under warranty. Light came back on and was told it was a secondary air injector valve that was bad but would not cover due to being out of warranty even though issue occurred while under warranty and was not corrected. Local mechanic cleaned valve and checked system which worked for 6 months. Continued to fail safety inspection for a P0491 secondary air injector system. Has failed 2016 & 2017 for same code. Have had over $700 worth of work to correct with no fix. 2017 had a P0106 code that cleared but has come back again. Currently still producing both codes for 2018 and not passing safety inspection.

- Jacksonville, NC, USA

problem #2

Aug 012015

Beetle

  • miles
Vehicle dies while driving. Has happened on countless occasions while driving straight, turning, stopped at light, etc. No warning. Engine completely shuts off. Major safety hazard as this has happened while turning left into oncoming traffic and while traveling down a road at 50 mph with other vehicles doing the same speed behind me. Started about 1 year ago and have been to the dealership multiple times trying to fix. So far they have tried a computer reset and replacing the crankshaft sensor, neither have worked. Car is currently back in the dealership for the second time in a week for the same problem.

- Queen Creek, AZ, USA

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problem #1

May 152012

Beetle

  • 4,903 miles
On 5/15/12, I parked my car at 1:20 P.M. in an off road small private parking lot (a small assisted living complex in stockton, ca), temperature less than 80 degrees, no trees overhead, perpendicular, facing the side of the building. When I came out 3 hours later, from the inside of the car, I noticed what seemed to be a semi-circle hairline fracture on my front windshield, that hadn't been there before; starting at the upper roofline approximately 10 inches to the left of the rearview mirror, arching downward through the center location of the mirror bracket (siliconed to the windshield from the inside) arching back upwardly approximately 8" to the right of the mirror ending at the upper roofline. Closer examination from inside showed one vertical fracture to the right of the bracket position, from the roofline as the actual possible origin of the left arch, the right arch separate from the previous branching into an additional hairline fracture, and yet another smaller attached hairline semicircle fracture arching below the first observed semicircle!! there is a very tiny loop of silicone hanging from the inside roofline. Previous to this observation, there had been no fractures! this was totally "out of the blue". in my 4903 miles of driving, I had not experienced anything but rain "hitting" the windshield...no other drivers have driven the car without my being in the car...and I have only used "touch less" car washes. I contacted the dealership where I purchased the vehicle and the national VW customer care center, after reading multiple VW owners' comments online with similar "spontaneous" fractures to their 2012 Beetle's windshields!!

- Stockton, CA, USA

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