AtWhatMileage
Glass · 5 owner reports

Other visibility problem on the 2005 Volkswagen Jetta

Only 5 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.

Reports of this failure 5
With an odometer reading 5
Reports per 1,000 built 0.3 per 1,000
Filed below 36,000 miles 20%
Mention a crash, fire or injury 0
Typical repair $150–$1,400
What it means when it happens Moderate
Rank among this year's problems 21st

When other visibility problem gets reported

There are 5 reports of other visibility problem on the 2005 Volkswagen Jetta, 5 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 75,000 miles. It is the 21st most-reported problem on this model year.

The whole distribution

Percentiles of the 5 odometer readings owners gave.
10th25thMedian 75th90th
— — 54,000 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 $150–$1,400 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 20 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2014, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 90,000 miles.

By volume the 1999 carries the most reports, with 49; the 2005 has 5. 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.

Median
  1. 1996 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 73k
  2. 1997 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 28k
  3. 1998 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 92k
  4. 1999 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 84k
  5. 2000 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 38k
  6. 2001 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 55k
  7. 2002 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 48k
  8. 2003 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 44k
  9. 2004 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 74k
  10. 2005 (this one) 54k
  11. 2006 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 60k
  12. 2007 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 51k
  13. 2008 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 5k
  14. 2009 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 55k
  15. 2010 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 39k
  16. 2011 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 52k
  17. 2012 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 41k
  18. 2013 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 62k
  19. 2014 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 4k
  20. 2015 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 14k
  21. 2016 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem
    no odometer readings given
    —
  22. 2017 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem
    no odometer readings given
    —
  23. 2019 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 14k
  24. 2020 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem 500
  25. 2021 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem
    no odometer readings given
    —
  26. 2024 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem
    no odometer readings given
    —
  27. 2025 Volkswagen Jetta other visibility problem
    no odometer readings given
    —

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.

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 volkswagen jetta. The contact attempted to roll down the window, but was unsuccessful. While driving 30 MPH, the contact heard a loud noise and realized that the driver's side window had come out of the frame. The current and failure mileages were 35,000.

35,000 miles NHTSA complaint 654124 filed 2008-01-18

The fuse for the rear window defroster melted into the fuse box. I called vw and they informed me that when they manufactured the vehicle they placed a 25 amp fuse in the fuse box and it should be changed to a 30 amp. They informed me that I can do this myself since there was a technical service bulletin placed on this. I told them there was no way that I can get the fuse out since it is melted into the fuse box, and they informed me that I would have to pay to have the fuse box replaced. I do not understand how I am responsible for something that I never did. I cannot use my rear window defroster, heated seats and my heated windshield washers don't even work. I have went the rounds with volkswagen and they stick to telling me that I am responsible for the costs in replacing the fuse box. Its like they are telling me that I built the car and I placed the wrong fuse. If I did build the car and place the wrong fuse in the car I would pay for the damages associated with this, but I did not build it vw built it and I feel they need to take responsibility for placing the wrong fuse in the fuse box. *tr

64,000 miles NHTSA complaint 687113 filed 2008-09-08

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 volkswagen new jetta. The contact was driving 60 MPH when the power windows and turn signals failed to work properly. The contact also mentioned that the exterior and interior lighting failed to illuminate. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who confirmed that both a wiring and crash harness was needed to resolve the failure. The manufacturer was not notified, and the vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 54,000 and the current mileage was 69,000.

54,000 miles NHTSA complaint 882508 filed 2011-09-28

Also reported on the 2005 Volkswagen Jetta

Other powertrain problem

54 reports median 78k

Other engine problem

28 reports median 58k

Other electrical problem

18 reports median 66k

Wiring harness or short circuit

16 reports median 68k

Other body or interior problem

13 reports median 74k

How far this goes

This page is kept out of search results because 5 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 5 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 visibility problem happen on the 2005 Volkswagen Jetta?

Across 5 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 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 visibility problem on the 2005 Volkswagen Jetta?

5 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 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