Loss of braking on the 2007 Volkswagen Jetta
3 crashes 3 of the 11 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When loss of braking gets reported
Owners of the 2007 Volkswagen Jetta report loss of braking at a median of 15,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 20,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 78,000 miles. It is the 7th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 200 miles at the tenth percentile to 30,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 31,800 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
Reports bunched into a band this tight usually mean the component has a life of its own: it goes at roughly the same mileage regardless of who owns it.
89% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 miles | 8,500 miles | 17,200 miles | 18,000 miles | 32,000 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
Of these reports, 3 a crash is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $400–$3,000 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.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 11 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2016, at a median of 400 miles, and latest on the 2009 at 130,000 miles.
By volume the 2001 carries the most reports, with 12; the 2007 has 11. 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.
Tl*the contacts own a 2007 volkswagen jetta. The contact has been experiencing brake failure since the first two weeks after the vehicle was purchased. He stated that the brakes grind whenever he attempts to stop. While driving 45 MPH, he attempted to accelerate and the vehicle hesitated. On june 11, 2007, he arrived at wellesley volkswagen and spoke to the service manager. The service manager acknowledged that the transmission was faulty and discovered an error registered in the computer. Wellesley would not provide a loaner vehicle, but the contact was able to retrieve his vehicle within a few days. However, the brakes continue to grind. He called volkswagen, but no one would speak to him. The current mileage is 3,000 and failure mileage was 200. Updated 09/18/07. *jb updated 01-16-08. *kb updated *jb
Tl*the contacts own a 2007 volkswagen jetta. The contact has been experiencing brake failure since the first two weeks after the vehicle was purchased. He stated that the brakes grind whenever he attempts to stop. While driving 45 MPH, he attempted to accelerate and the vehicle hesitated. On june 11, 2007, he arrived at wellesley volkswagen and spoke to the service manager. The service manager acknowledged that the transmission was faulty and discovered an error registered in the computer. Wellesley would not provide a loaner vehicle, but the contact was able to retrieve his vehicle within a few days. However, the brakes continue to grind. He called volkswagen, but no one would speak to him. The current mileage is 3,000 and failure mileage was 200. Updated 09/18/07. *jb updated 01-16-08. *kb updated *jb
I have had several problems with my 2007 vw jetta 2.5 but the most recent and disturbing was a complete failure of the rear brakes due to an improperly adjusted parking brake cable. The faulty e-brake caused the rear brake calipers to seize, ate through the pads, and damaged the rotors. Upon taking it to the dealer I was informed this was a fairly common problem with my model. After doing some research on the internet I came across dozens of other owners who have had the same problem. While mine did not result in an accident not having the use of the rear brakes with no way of telling is definitely a cause for concern. Plus with the brakes seized and dragging my fuel economy has suffered greatly. I took the car in and had the rear calipers, e-brake, pads, and rotors covered under warranty but other owners have had to pay as much as $600.00 to there local dealers who called it a wear item. Please look into this and force vw to take ownership of the problem and recall the vehicles before someone does get killed due to brake failure.
Also reported on the 2007 Volkswagen Jetta
Other electrical problem
Other brake problem
Other body or interior problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other powertrain problem
Other engine problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 11 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 loss of braking happen on the 2007 Volkswagen Jetta?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 15,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 10,000 miles and a quarter after 20,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is loss of braking on the 2007 Volkswagen Jetta?
11 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.8 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