Owners have filed 34 complaints with NHTSA about this car, most about the brakes, electrical, and engine. The 8 checks below target those problems, in the order you would do them at the car.
2023Tick items off on your phone at the car, or print it. Ticks stay on this device.
0/8 checked
2023 Volkswagen Jetta: inspection sheet
Before you go, or before you touch the car0/1
Engine off, key in hand0/1
Ask the seller not to warm the car up first0/2
At least 20 minutes, with some highway0/4
These checks are specific to this model year. For tires, body panels, fluids, and the other basics every used car needs, use the general inspection guide.
These years share the 2023's design and most of its parts, so their problems are the ones to look for on this car too.
Worth adding to your 2023 checks
Worth adding to your 2023 checks
Worth adding to your 2023 checks
EPA figures for each version of the 2023 Volkswagen Jetta. Use them to confirm you are looking at the version that was advertised, and as a yardstick on the test drive.
| Version | Drive | EPA rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1.5L 4-cyl | FWD | 35 mpg |
Owners report these failures starting around the mileages below. A car inside one of these ranges deserves a closer look at that part, or records showing it was already fixed.
Premature rear brake wear
10,000–30,000 miles
NHTSA complaints for the 2023 Volkswagen Jetta, grouped by the part owners named. Open a row to read what goes wrong.
Rear pads and rotors wear out early. Reports describe squealing, grinding and dragging rear calipers, with pads or rotors replaced between 14,362 and 20,000 miles, sometimes twice. Dealers often clean the brakes, call the noise normal or say no fix exists. One owner cites Technical Service Bulletin VWP-22-18. Some owners worry about weaker braking in an emergency. On manual-transmission cars, hill hold keeps the brakes on for about three seconds, which can stall the car while pulling into traffic.
The emergency call (SOS) module fails, then fails again after replacement. A dash warning appears and post-crash calling is disabled. Some owners also lose Bluetooth or remote app functions. Other reports describe a backup camera that intermittently shows no image, a gauge cluster that goes black while driving, and cruise control or front assist that doesn't always work. One passenger door opened at highway speed with no warning, which the dealer blamed on a frozen latch. Hill start assist can hold the brakes long enough to stall the car.
Coolant disappears with no visible leak. Owners top off anywhere from every 1000 miles to every 5-10K miles, and some cars overheat. In two reports the dealer diagnosed a failed head gasket, and owners point to a 2023 service bulletin on head gasket coolant leaks. Other complaints describe cold-start misfires with a check engine light, fixed in one case with new coil packs. One car lost power and shut off at 35 mph in traffic around 2,000 miles and would not restart.
Cylinder 4 misfires turn on the EPC, check engine and yellow warning lights, and the car has to limp off the road. In one report this happened twice on a car with only 1831 miles. Another report describes repeated module and network faults affecting cruise control and the adaptive cruise sensor, plus a transmission that reads Neutral when the car is in Park. In that case the faults kept returning after a dealer repair.
Automatic emergency braking activates when nothing is ahead. Owners report sudden slowing at about 25 mph in traffic and around 50 mph on a slower road, with the collision warning light coming on. One owner reports it happening 3 times in a year. Unexpected braking creates a rear-end collision risk if traffic is following closely. Neither report describes a completed repair.
Excerpts from complaints Jetta owners filed with NHTSA, as written. Listen for the same symptoms on your test drive.
Rear brakes worn prematurely with only 16k miles on a brand new purchased 2023 VW Jetta. Dealer said, VW will not replace until the brakes at 2mm and the warranty will expire next month and I will end up paying for it out of my pocket.
Filed with NHTSA, April 2025
Car has less than 30k miles on it and already the brakes are grinding and the brake pads are wearing out. This car is only a year old and should not be wearing out like this! Brakes are a major safety issue if they do not work.
Filed with NHTSA, February 2024
After parking the car one day the remote app functions stopped working. The next morning, a scary warning came on the dash stating: SOS Error: Emergency Call Function! Service Vehicle! It also blocks off many functional areas of other dash display and the error will not go away. The bluetooth in the car no longer works and the post-crash and SOS emergency calling are disabled.
Filed with NHTSA, October 2023
Car has multiple electrical issues that can affect the safety of driving. OCU Module is the main one which allows for 911 services to be called in case of an accident. This module failed in September and now it failed again in January. The cruise control also sometimes doesn't work and the front assistance sensor doesn't seem to always work as indicated in the screenshots.
Filed with NHTSA, February 2024
Vehicle has been misfiring at interstate Rt 95 putting driver at very high risk of a crash. This vehicle has been service for this problem and also for a coolant leak 04 times at dealership. They were unable to find any problem. Right now, this vehicle is at dealership, and they said, engine has a blown head gasket (several vehicles from VW model Taos and Jetta from 2022 and 2023 has the same issue.).
Filed with NHTSA, July 2024
The check engine light would come on due to it misfiring on cold starts, dealer seems to have fixed it by replacing the coil packs. Many others also have this issue and haven’t been able to get it fixed. This is a serious issue that seems to be only happening on 2023 and newer model year Jetta GLIs.
Filed with NHTSA, August 2024
Complaints for this year next to the average for the other model years, area by area.
The 2023 ranks fourth for owner complaints among 8 Jetta years, well under the average of the others. Newer years have had less time to collect complaints, so compare like with like.
Redesigns and mid-cycle updates change what can go wrong.
The 2023 is the sixth model year of the Jetta's seventh generation (2018–2023).
It includes the 2022 update.
What changed for 2022
Cars shoppers compare with the Volkswagen Jetta, with their own 2023 checklists.
2023 owner complaints, side by side
