Other brake problem on the 2002 Volkswagen Beetle
Only 4 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When other brake problem gets reported
There are 4 reports of other brake problem on the 2002 Volkswagen Beetle, 4 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 18th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 119,803 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $300–$1,800 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 5 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2014, at a median of 1,600 miles, and latest on the 2002 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2000 carries the most reports, with 9; the 2002 has 4. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
08/05 purchased vehicle from lexus of glendale 09/05 experience numerous problems with brakes. Peddle would not spring back into place causing car to be stuck in the road. I had to physically pick up the peddle so the car would move again. Took back to the dealer, they said they cannot duplicate problem and left it unresolved. 10/05 brake problem occurred many more times. Twice when I tap the brake to slow down it would have a loud suction vacuum sound and go straight to the floor and get stuck leaving the vehicle behind me with no warning to stop. Took to dealer...they said they knew what the problem was, but are not authorized to fix unless they can duplicate. We asked they how much it would cost if we wanted to pay out of pocket. They said they cannot give us a price because it's under warranty...?!? Problem unresolved!!! 10/05 problem occurred again, but this time on the freeway. Dealer said bring it back and we'll look at it yet again! We asked for our money back and they said they would buy it back at a fraction of what we paid. Left unresolved...looking for alternative way to get our money back. *nm
My fiancee and I purchased this beetle in november of 2010 and have had nothing but problems with it. It has been in the shop a number of time (5-7) and we have spent hundreds in trying to fix it. Yet no luck. It is a danger to my fiancee and new born baby. On day it will run fine but then after driving for ten minutes the epc light come on and the brakes barely work if at all, and it wont speed up even if she has her foot to the floor. So now we have a $6000 dollar car that not even the vw dealership can fix. It sits on our road. I have seen so many complaints about people having the same problem and I believe its only a matter of time before some one gets seriously injured or even worse. Please do something about this monstrosity that vw refuses to admit. *tr
The car was driven in the morning then parked at my home. When I went to use it again it will not come out of park. The light will not go out so that I can pull the gear shift out of park.
Also reported on the 2002 Volkswagen Beetle
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other powertrain problem
Other engine problem
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 4 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 4 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other brake problem happen on the 2002 Volkswagen Beetle?
Across 4 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 120,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other brake problem on the 2002 Volkswagen Beetle?
4 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed