5.0

fairly significant
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
19,674 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.

2015 Volkswagen Golf drivetrain problems

drivetrain problem

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2015 Volkswagen Golf Owner Comments

problem #12

May 112023

Golf

  • miles

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

Over the last two months, I've had over 30 incidences where the car will either randomly shift extremely hard into a gear or will hesitate, stutter, lose power while accelerating. Some of the shifts have been so hard that they've thrown me forward. Some of the losses of power are extremely dangerous as I'm accelerating at highway speeds. I have a full log of at least 30 of these incidents (and detailed as best I could) and they are attached. I picked May 11th because that was the hardest shift/loss of power which caused me the greatest harm. I've been able to reproduce the errors in drive, sport, and Tiptronic mode. The errors occur in all gears, but are most common in 2nd and 3rd (although the higher gears are involved as well), which leads me to believe it's not the transmission, yet the mechatronics unit or something outside of the transmission and engine itself. The troubling issue here is that the car is recording absolutely zero fault codes for diagnosis; that is, the car is shifting, stuttering, hesitating randomly and erratically and no diagnostics are being provided to resolve the issue. Technicians are able to guess what the issue is, but cannot give a guarantee what the problem is without the fault codes. This is the greatest safety concern, but luckily no crashes so far. I was interested to learn that there was a recall on the same model by the Australian government related to the pressure accumulator and I'd like to see if this could be the issue, since I'm experiencing the same symptoms as those described in the recall: https://www.vehiclerecalls.gov.au/recalls/rec-005369.

- Etters, PA, USA

problem #11

Apr 032022

Golf

  • miles
Driving 65 mph down highway vehicle shut off with no warning. Fault code shows defective injector #1. Vw tdi (post fix dieselgate). Dealer will not fix because I cleared the code to drive home. Irresponsible for vw to make a car that shuts down completely with no limp mode or short time to clear road.

- Wayne, PA, USA

problem #10

Feb 082019

Golf

  • 67,000 miles
I've been through three transmissions since I purchased the car three years ago. The first transmission went out due to mechanic error, VW put a new one in that one fail catastrophically but VW blamed the fail on the flywheel (it had hotspots on it) paid $4000 for a used transmission (with 32K on it) and new clutch and flywheel. Now that one failed when I was driving down the interstate it was constantly slipping out of 5th gear and it was hard to shift it into a lower gear..I've never had issues like this before I've been driving manual for 7 years. I'm wondering what is causing all these transmissions to fail.

- Gillette, WY, USA

problem #9

Aug 272018

Golf

  • 70,000 miles

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

Over time, a build-up of silicate on the shift lever micro switch contacts can make it possible to remove the key from the ignition switch without the shift lever being in the "P" park position. This makes the vehicle noncompliant with 49 cfr 571.114 standard no. 114 theft protection and rollaway prevention. If the ignition key is removed without the shift lever being in the "P" park position, there is a risk that the vehicle may roll away, resulting in a crash that could injure people and damage property.

- Indianapolis, IN, USA

problem #8

Dec 152018

Golf

  • 37,000 miles
Vehicle is intermittently showing error 'error: Service vehicle, leave only on P'. error happens randomly, but usually during or just after driving in wet conditions. Always while the vehicle is in motion. Gear shift assembly was replaced two years previously to address the problem, but now the errors are back. Same symptoms as campaign number 18V464000, VW service recall 37L5, however no recall is listed for this VIN.

- Fredericksburg, VA, USA

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problem #7

Dec 052018

Golf

  • 26,092 miles
Vehicle randomly displays message on hud screen "error: Service vehicle. Only leave vehicle in P position" I have only ever had it happen while driving. Everything from 10mph to 80mph. No particular speed seems to trip the error. After a long drawn out ordeal, both the local dealer and VW of America have denied repair even though, this exact issue because it is not included in the 33,168 select Volkswagen Golfs and Golf sportwagens from 2015 to 2018 model years. Yet with all the evidence to include the ECU/tcu logs verifying the problem since its not a "affected" VIN, they will do nothing. The local dealer confirm that this is the exact issue we have been dealing with since July of this year. Most recently I was going through the pharmacy drive-thru and in park when the vehicle began to roll forward which I had to hit the brakes to stop it. Yet with all the evidence to include the ECU/tcu logs verifying the problem since its not a "affected" VIN, they will do nothing.

- Scottsdale, AZ, USA

problem #6

Aug 132018

Golf

  • 15,280 miles

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

Car would not move after a stop and then accelerated rapidly.

- Norwood, MA, USA

problem #5

Jan 052017

Golf

  • 3,500 miles
While driving at approximately 30 miles per hour the car came up with an alert of electrical fault stop now and the powertrain shut down with zero throttle response. I was able to pull into the right lane and party into a driveway of a fast food restaurant. I was unable to turn off the car, I got out and pushed it into the parking lot. Eventually the car turned off and after a few attempts I was able to turn it back on. I was in "B" mode (regenerative braking mode) and decided to drive it in "D" (regular drive) the extra 2 miles home. This shutdown offered no warning and no "limp mode", had I been in a busier area this could easily have lead to a crash.

- Mesa, AZ, USA

problem #4

Mar 162016

Golf

  • 10,600 miles
2015 Golf started experiencing problems with the engine/transmission after Feb 5, 2016 on three different occasions. Upon starting car the idle is extremely rough and then a warning message appears that starts out with "transmission..." goes off quickly but a highlighted exclamation point remains. The message goes off too quickly to capture a picture of it. The exclamation point and rough idle remains until the car is turned off. When the car is turned on again it is fine. The car is currently at a dealer to be repaired as they state: We have to replace the shifter assembly. I have been told I cannot drive it, that the car has to stay in the shop and wait for a part to arrive sometime next week. This problem is separate from the other problems I have experienced: 1). the right front seat heater come on and heats up to extremely uncomfortable degrees-- dealer says they cannot find a problem. 2). the navigation system goes blank-- doesn't work-- dealer can't find the problem 3). A warning and beeping that the front right seat belt needs to be fastened-- and no one is in the seat, just a cell phone. This Golf only has 10,600 miles on it.... did I purchase a lemon? the date below is the last time the problem occurred. It may or may not have anything to do with it but the car did not have this problem until after the transmission software update was done in February.

- Salinas, CA, USA

problem #3

Mar 242015

Golf

  • 3,606 miles
Whilst driving home at approximately 6:30 pm during heavy freeway traffic, approximately 70 mph the electronic drive system of the VW egolf died. I lost all power and was forced to pull across three lanes of traffic to reach the safety of the shoulder. While no accident, that was more luck than anything else and grace of other drivers allowing me to directly move in front of them. Vehicle had code P32B2 and P060C reported by VW report and replaced parts: 5qe-907-070-C and 12E-998-152-a. dealer would not provide any additional information despite my continued requests in to the cause of failure. Updated 11/05/15 the vehicle was returned to the dealer. It has been there since July 28, 2015. They were still unable to repair the vehicle as of August 26, 2015. The failure was related to power as the battery and charging system failed again. Updated 11/17/15.

- Irvine, CA, USA

problem #2

May 302015

Golf 4-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • 6 miles
When trying to accelerate from a complete stop, the vehicle sometimes lags then accelerates abruptly or it bucks twice before accelerating smoothly. It needs a calibration update for the powertrain. Updated 09/15/15

- Mankato, MN, USA

problem #1

Nov 032014

Golf

  • 3,000 miles
When I'm in traffic stop and go between 11mph to 18 mph at low RPM (1,100 to 1,800 RPM) the vehicle feels like shaking in the engine or transmission like I'm driving a manual car but my car is automatic. Now when going up a incline at 30 to 33 mph vehicle does the same problem.

- New York City, NY, USA

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