2012 Volkswagen Jetta: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Jul 21, 2025 · Electrical, Steering · 131,260 miles · CA

The contact owns a 2012 Volkswagen Jetta. The contact stated that for the past eight months, the contact was unable to remove the key from the ignition. Several warning lights were illuminated. The contact stated that to start the vehicle, the contact had to plug in the two fuse boxes and connect the battery cable. The contact feared the vehicle might catch on fire. The contact received notification of the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 19V615000 (Electrical System, Steering). The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the contact was informed that pre-existing repairs needed to be performed before the recall repair could be performed. The contact stated that the dealer had not provided an official repair estimate, however the total repair cost was provided. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance. The manufacturer confirmed that the pre-existing repairs needed to be performed prior to the recall repair. The failure mileage was approximately 131,260. Parts distribution disconnect.

Filed Mar 22, 2023 · Brakes · FL

The brakes randomly engage while driving and sometimes while parking, without touching the brake pedal. After this happens and you're driving for a while, there is a burning smell, likely from the brakes being engaged while driving and not applying the brakes.

Filed Jan 11, 2023 · Electrical · 122,000 miles · ID

The contact owns a 2012 Volkswagen Jetta. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, he noticed a burning odor and smoke coming from the vents into the cabin of the vehicle. No warning light was illuminated. Additionally, the contact stated that he pulled apart the heater and noticed that the wiring had melted. The dealer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the VIN was not included in a recall. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure however, the contact was only able to leave a voicemail. The call was not returned. The failure mileage was approximately 122,000.

Filed Jan 12, 2017 · Engine · 27,000 miles · NY

The first thing I noticed after driving the car was the smell of burning oil occasionally, then upon opening the hood and removing the engine cover there was minor oil seepage from the valve cover. The car itself is 2012 jetta gli and only has about 27,500 miles as I type this message. But it gets worse, I notice the oil level dropping and having to put refill it about 2 or 3 times a month. At this point I know something isn't right and its not just a faulty valve cover gasket. Did some reading online and I suspected it was a faulty oil separator/pcv system creating too much crank case pressure. I also checked the rear main seal recently and see oil leaking between the motor and transmission, suggesting the rms has began to fail. My question is if the car was "certified pre-owned" and pcv valve failure is some what common for both tsi and fsi engines, why wasn't the vehicles pcv inspected for failure or changed entirely with the new revision? There are many revisions on the oil separator/pcv valve from what I see. Shouldn't the damage to the rms replacement be covered by the manufacturer since it was due to premature failure of the oil separator, that is known to be prone to failure or faulty from the factory? Currently im not driving the car and waiting for the newest revision of the oil separator but since the rms has already began seeping oil its only a matter of time before it fails completely. Being a trade school student who is lost his job right before christmas last year this unexpected failure of the rear main seal at only 27,500 miles, regardless of vehicle age is unexpected and at a severe inconvenience. If volkswagen cannot provide at least the labor cost for the rms replacement I cant say ill ever buy another vw from a dealership again.

Filed Dec 30, 2015 · Engine · 55,000 miles · IN · fire

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.

Filed Sep 27, 2015 · Brakes · 44,000 miles · MD

While driving (secondary roads, suburbs) noticed 'spongy' brake feel and strange sound from left rear. When I got home (after about 15 min of driving), left rear disc was glowing orange/yellow and smoke was coming from the wheel. Had rear pads replaced/reset. Problem returned 2 weeks later. After a short drive, noticed smell and saw smoke coming from left rear wheel. Lifted car and left rear wheel would not turn. All other wheels are fine.

Filed Sep 7, 2015 · Brakes · 49,195 miles · WI · fire

2012 jetta wagon - while driving on a recently paved highway (eg. Seemingly pristine asphalt), my wife and I noted a strange vibration sensation in our car. There was no drag, veered steering, abnormal handling, or warning on the dash. We had accelerated to approximately 50 MPH when at the upcoming intersection the light changed to red. It was a normal braking/stop maneuver. On stopping, no unusual braking sensation, again no abnormal pull. We noticed smoke coming along the drivers side while stopped. There was a faint smell of hot metal as well. My wife stated "I hope that's not us". Several cars honked and flashed lights to get our attention and on rolling the drivers window down, a driver adjacent yelled "your car is on fire". I quickly exited the drivers side and noted a small flame at the drivers rear brake. By simply blowing, it went out. The rotor was glowing red/orange. Extreme heat was coming from this. No other brake was involved. I verified the parking brake was not engaged at the time. We had traveled perhaps 2 miles prior to this occurrence. Once cooled, I slowly drove to a nearby clinic parking lot and left the car. This car has had all scheduled maintenance in a timely manner. It has not been crashed. Recent work included dealer brake fluid change at 47,918 miles. *tr ## VIN passed ## volkswagen jetta 2012 tdi sportwagen ##

Filed Sep 5, 2015 · Electrical · 35,000 miles · CT · fire

The first time my radio caught on fire, it was the summer of 2014. My car was parked in a parking lot while I was at work. When I entered the car to drive home, I turned started the vehicle and there was a extremely loud sound, much like an explosion. The middle dash where the radio is located began pouring smoke. After the incident, I contacted the dealership, who "fixed" the problem (they replaced the stock radio for another vw stock radio). Spring of 2015, the same exact thing happened. My car was parked at work, I started the car and the radio began pouring smoke. I again, had the issue "fixed" by the dealership. August 2015, again this happened and september 2015 again. When I insisted that vw must further investigate the underlying issue, they claimed to have fixed the problem after the august 2015 incident. With this incident not only did the radio burn out, my battery was drained out. The explanation I was given was that the power line to the radio was not shutting off, therefore the radio was overheating and the battery was being drained. With this particular incident, I received my car back on a monday and the radio again caught fire and burned out on the friday of that same week.

Filed Jan 13, 2015 · Engine · 37,000 miles · NC

Tried to start vehicle started once then stalled immediately. Tried a second and third time vehicle would just click. Let car sit 14 hours vehicle clicked once then started and ran rough with white smoke coming out of exhaust. Read up on hard starts and found out about intercooler freezing. Pulled tubing off and found approx. 2-3 oz of clear water and 4-5 oz of green sludge in the intercooler piping. Numerous instances of this have occurred even on the highway some of these have resulted in a condition called hydrolock resulting in bent connecting rods. This has also occurred in vehicles being driven at highway speeds. At highway speeds this will cause a rapid loss of engine power possibly causing a vehicle accident. There are numerous forums noting this in 2009-2012 models and possibly 13-14 models.

Filed Jan 7, 2015 · Electrical, Engine · 67,000 miles · GA · fire

Upon returning home on sunday 12/21 at 3 pm, smoke was coming from our garage. We opened the garage door to discovery my car on fire and a garage full of smoke. We called 911 and requested fire assistance. We then proceeded to extinguish the fire using 5 commercial size fire extinguishers. The fire department arrived and extinguished the flames and dragged the car from the garage. The car had not been driven for approximately 18 hours.

Filed Nov 18, 2013 · Electrical · 12,400 miles · CA

While my daughter was sitting at a stop light in a left hand turn lane, all of the dash lights began to flash. She thought if she turned the car off and restarted it, it would clear. She could not restart the car, the hazard lights would not turn on, the back doors would not unlock , the radio could not be turned off and it was pitch dark. Thank god, a man with a family pushed her car to out of the left hand turn lane and into a gas station parking lot across the street. Upon my husband and my arrival, we could not open the trunk either to allow the tow truck driver access to the tow hook. We leased this car due to its safety features of our college age daughter. Hazard lights should work regardless of what's going on with the vehicle. Had someone reared ended the vehicle due to no hazard lights, passengers in the back would not have been able to exit the vehicle. Or if it had caught fire to only way to exit would be through the two front doors. We were told by the vw dealer that it was a controller that went out and that he has never heard this happening before. I'm writing to vw to let them know that if this is true for all vw products, it is a design flaw that jeopardizes everyone that buys or leases one.

Filed Jan 24, 2012 · Electrical, Engine · 17,000 miles · KY · fire

Drove the vehicle home from work friday 1/13, weather was below freezing causing ice build up. Parked the vehicle in my garage ~45 degrees. Ice began melt, and when trying to start the vehicle saturday afternoon it turned 1/4 turn and the engine stopped. My assumption is that the engine inhaled water causing a hydro-lock, I continued to try to start the vehicle a total 5 times (it turned over once and ran extremely rough and died once). The last time trying to start the vehicle I smelled smoke, I popped the hood to find the starter and wiring on fire. I was able to extinguish the fire relatively quickly, considering the vehicle was parked in my garage attached to my house this could have extremely catastrophic if I wouldn't have been able to get the fire out. *** this is the second time for the hard / no start problem, this one however resulted in the fire. Volkswagen will not follow the below tsb since the vehicle started after wiring and starter replacement. Issue mirrors tsb # 21 11 06 / 2025464, which includes engine will not turn over, "dead battery" starter action (due to hydraulic resistance in cylinder), and starter/electrical fires (due to starter overheating during attempts to start locked engine).