Windshield wipers are working intermittently in the cold weather... But as soon as it warms up or the vehicle is pulled into a garage... Wipers begin to work as normal. Additionally, the vehicles horn is also doing the same thing. This problem seems to occur when the vehicle is stationary and/or moving in extreme cold weather. Vehicle did this 2 years ago (2/14/2014). Vw dealership replaced horn and wiper switch. Problem is now occurring again intermittently. My vehicle was brought to a trusted vw mechanic today (1/5/2016) who diagnosed the vehicle with 3 different electrical trouble codes but found no problems with the horn or wipers individually. Through research online, I found found many similar stories with intermittent windshield wipers and horns in the cold on vw jettas 2011 and later in articles and forums. My mechanic feels that there may be faulty wiring in these vehicles that with extreme cold conditions does not allow the full conduction of electricity to properly activate the windshield wipers and/or horn which can be a hazard while driving especially in adverse weather conditions. Vw admits that there have been previous recalls to problems with malfunctioning windshield wipers and/or horns but my vehicle was not covered under the recall. Additionally, vw is refusing to admit that this is a larger problem then just my vehicle and is not willing to have the issue fully looked into.
2011 Volkswagen Jetta electrical complaints
Page 5 of 7: complaints 101 to 130 of 186, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Ignition switch key lock solenoid (n376) problem. Hello, my wife's 2011 jetta has a malfunctioning ignition lock cylinder. Perhaps the ignition switch key lock solenoid (n376)? Normally the key should be locked in the ignition while the car is in d(drive). However, there appears to be a malfunction in the n376 (or other) which does not engage the locking solenoid. This allows for the key to be pulled out while in d. She was able to turn the car off and pull the keys out of the car while the car was still in d(drive), got out of the car and the car rolled back and hit a porsche. Thankfully the car did not run over a child or other person. From brief research I see there have been multiple recalls on similar items, here is an article on one though not specifically on the 2011 jetta.
Driver side low beam not working. The headlights were replaced but this did not fix the issue. The problem might be with faulty parts or electrical.
Lights started randomly going out, and control center started naming several different bulbs that were out. When taken to dealer nothing was wrong. I took car home and everything was fine. The next morning car acted up again, so I video taped it and took it back to dealer while leaving running so they could see. This time their computer recognized the fault, which was a faulty fuse panel that was melting yet not tripping fuse.
The right half of my jetta lost all of its exterior lighting suddenly. The vehicle was taken to the university volkswagen dealership here in seattle. It was determined that fuse sb16 aka f16 melted causing the fuse panel to also melt. Repair involved replacing fuse panel and new updated version of sb16 fuse. This fuse was the subject of the federal safety agency campaign id number: 13v569000 in my 2009 - 2011 volkswagen tiguan and the 2009 -2010 jetta. It seems that this has been happening in the my 2011 jetta.
Automatic car was "parked", turned off. Key removed, though it was not in p. Emergency brake works and applied, but may not have been applied all the way. Rolled back across the low low grade parking lot and our white car bumped a ... Black porsche! Doesn't appear to be any damage other than paint smudge/transfer from the bumper. Normal safety feature where the car needs to be in park before the key comes out isn't working properly. Any advice on how to fix this? If possible myself? Is this something I can get the mfg to pay for? It's not under warranty. It's under a 3 yr power train warranty, but pretty sure at best this is a only related to a transmission issue, not directly a transmission issue. No recalls as of now for this on my vehicle. Any advice is appreciated.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 volkswagen jetta. The contact stated that while driving at night, the front driver and passenger side exterior head lights and the rear driver side tail light became inoperable as the lights out error message displayed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 90,000.
Another instance of the vw radio ceasing to function even though the fuses are not blown. Radio with touch pad stopped working, no voice recognition or car speaker output when connected with the blue tooth. Not sure exactly how it happened as I only occasionally use the handsfree and hardly ever use the radio.
While driving with approx. 50,000 miles, the radio popped and completely died. The radio, along with the hands free phone capability are now inoperable. The vehicle was taken to two (2) separate volkswagen dealerships and each verified that the fuses were in tact and it was a faulty radio. The broken radio is actually still drawing power from the battery which causes frequent dead batteries. I have already replaced two (2) batteries in the last year. This poses a safety concern because the battery could die at anytime and leave the driver stranded. There have been numerous complaints about this same problem which warrants a recall before anyone else gets hurt.
The horn changed sounds for a few weeks then stopped working all together. It's a safety issue when driving on the highway and in other areas when you do not have a horn. I've seen on this site that others have had the same complaint.
At approx. 48,800 miles while driving I heard a pop and the radio died. Radio & hands free phone no longer work. Vw dealer charged $125 to tell me that it was dead, suggested purchasing a new radio ($1500) or an after market one. Too many people with the same make, model and year have had the same issue as posted on numerous sites. It's a safety hazard with the loss of the hands free telephone.
Car stereo went blank in my 2011 sportwagen tdi. It will not power up at all. Checked the fuses and they are all good.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 volkswagen jetta. While driving at an unknown speed, the horn failed to sound. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The contact indicated that the vehicle was repaired under the federal safety agency campaign number: 11v196000 (electrical system) in 2011, but the failure recurred. The failure mileage was 85,000.
Radio popped and went dead causing a amperage drain on the battery. Fuses have been verified as good but the radio will not turn back on even after resets.
Headlights went off while car in motion and would not go back on. The consequences of that happening if at a high rate of speed is disturbing to think about.
The ignition switch wont allow the key to, turn to turn the vehicle off.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 volkswagen jetta. The contact stated that the horn failed on three separate occasions. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician diagnosed that the horn assembly would need to be replaced. The manufacturer stated that the VIN was not a part of the federal safety agency campaign number: 11v196000 (electrical system). The vehicle was repaired three separate times. The failure mileage was 43,000.
Random exterior lights were non-functional with multiple dashboard notification errors. Took vehicle in for service and was told that a bad fuse had shorted out and melted the fuse box causing the problem. Fuse box must be replaced due to overheating of bad fuse. Repair place said this is a known problem with volkswagen and certain models had already been issued a recall.
While driving, radio/cd/hands free telephone died. Screen flickered and then went blank, no power to all these functions. Vw repair said this model of radio installed on this year vehicle was a common problem, and that the radio unit is dead and will need to be replaced ($668 plus tax for a replacement by dealer). Plus an install fee. An ungodly price for a replacement radio that is only 4 years old. There are numerous complaints and threads out which warrant a recall. I use the hands free constantly for work and not being able to will make me have to use the phone in an unsafe manner. Safety is paramount. Update 9/15/15
In the process of driving the vehicle the engine along with all systems in the vehicle shut down with no warning. There was no electrical power whatsoever in the car and there was no indication that anything in the vehicle was working. It should be noted that a new battery was installed in the vehicle approximately 2-3 weeks prior to this incident. The car had shut down on two previous occasions, but was parked at the time. In each instance electrical power was restored in approximately 40 minutes with no action taken. The car was given to the vw dealer where vw specialists examined the vehicle. The problem could not be duplicated. After 3 days they were 90% positive that a module in the steering column had failed. Vw of america did not feel that the failure was a manufactures defect nor the fact that the car shuts down completely while being driven constituted a serious safety problem.
The car loses power, stalls then it dies. At times it speeds up, and stalls dies without warning. Loses all power, found recall in reference to this issue. Vin# matches series, matches date, and place where the car was made, except for the last few digits. Recall 11v19600, and vw will not replace harness to electrcial fuse and circuit breaker. I need to help to get this resolved. I have been battling the dealer and vw of america since 03/20/2015 until today 06/26/2015
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 volkswagen jetta. While driving at 50 MPH, the vehicle suddenly lost power and was unable to be driven. The glow plug light illuminated prior to the failure. The failure recurred several times. The vehicle was taken to a dealer several times and was repaired, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was not notified of the issue. The VIN was unavailable. The approximate failure mileage was 35,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 volkswagen jetta. While driving approximately 70 MPH, the bulb failure warning indicator illuminated sporadically indicating that the external lights were failing. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician diagnosed that the fuse panel had thermally overheated, melted, and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 60,000.
Touch screen radio died inexplicably, weird knocking sound from speakers
I love this car but for the last year I have been replacing lights bulbs every three months. Now I have running lights going out, no turning signals, tail light flickers, there is something that is wrong with the electrical wiring in this car.
Wife came home and said radio not working. From the research I have been looking at. It's done. Have to get a new or aftermarket unit. Can't believe I am the only on with this problem.
I was having trouble with various light bulbs going out. It turned out to be a fuse that had melted the fuse plate. I am lucky that it had not started a fire. My dealer replaced the fuse plate at a cost of 372 which vw is refusing to reimburse me for. I know other vw models have had the exact same problem and have been recalled. This is a serious safety issue and should be recalled as soon as possible. Loosing your headlights at night or a vehicle fire are serious safety issues.
Horn stopped working functioning.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 volkswagen jetta. While driving approximately 75 MPH, the door locks on the vehicle began to lock and unlock independently. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 60,000.
Driving down the highway at about 55mph, started switching lanes and stepped on the gas to accelerate. The car sputtered and the engine vibrated. The car felt like I was going to stall driving in the high-speed lane. The yellow check engine light came on and epc light started flashing. Swerving back into the lower speed lane I couldn't even keep the car at 55mph. I had to pull over on the highway to see if I could make sense of it. After turning off the car and then back on, the lights went off and the car was fine. I took it too the mechanic and they said they couldn't find anything wrong after $85.00 diagnostic. The car ran fine for 2 days until the same exact thing happened while driving on the highway again. This occurred on and off intermittently about every 1-2 days for about 2 weeks. Three trips to the mechanic within those 2 weeks and with each visit there was a computer connected to the car and a full systems diagnostic reported that there was nothing wrong with the car. It became dangerous for me to drive the car and even more so to drive it on the highway. After the second week the lights finally came on and stayed on and the problem was diagnosed as the engine misfiring in 2 of the cylinders. The mechanic changed with the ignition coil on 12/15.2014. The engine ran completely fine without any issues until last week, 3/19/2015. At 3 months and only 28,000 miles on the car the same problem started to reoccur while getting onto the highway and attempting to accelerate from 40-45mph. It started just as it did before intermittently and about 2 weeks later the engine and epc lights were on permanently again. After the mechanic confirmed that it was the same issue with the same component we changed the same part again. I am expecting to be changing it again in 3 more months, if I still have the car.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2011 Volkswagen Jetta?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history