Other electrical problem on the 2008 Volkswagen Jetta
1 fire 1 injury 2 of the 24 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 other electrical problem gets reported
Owners of the 2008 Volkswagen Jetta report other electrical problem at a median of 90,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles, from 19 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 40,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 130,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 88,568 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
11% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41,112 miles | 56,270 miles | 90,000 miles | 111,250 miles | 129,680 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, 1 a fire and 1 an injury are 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 $250–$2,000 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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 25 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2022, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2023 at 115,000 miles.
By volume the 2011 carries the most reports, with 120; the 2008 has 24. 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.
On a cold march morning, was not able to put the key in the ignition. After a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to force the key in, vw roadside assistance was called. The car was towed to the nearest dealer. When dealer looked at the problem, it was determined that the tumbler in the cylinder was in the locked position. The dealer sprayed with silicone lubricant to coax the tumbler to release. *tr
Drivers heated seat activated on its own. Control switch on dash was set at 0, drive received moderate burns to legs and buttock. Removed fuse and took vehicle to dealer. Nothing found, dealer suggested if the seat heats up again, bring vehicle directly to the dealer, do not shut it off. Burns are similar to a bad sunburn, some redness, no blisters. *tr
This vehicle was purchased approximately september 2008, and to date has experienced five (5) failures of the electronic door locking/unlocking mechanisms of three of the four doors of the vehicle and in some case multiple failures. I am currently experiencing failure number six (6). The failure of the locking/unlocking mechanisms is a safety issue as these failure have at time prevented being able to exit the vehicle and in the case of an emergency it is a serious threat to my safety. Additionally, I'm unable to lock the vehicle whenever I go anywhere thus putting anything in the vehicle at risk of loss from theft. The dealer's solution is to replace the locking mechanisms as they fail and as the vehicle is no longer under warranty it's cost roughly $370.00 per incident. Below is a summary of the failures experienced thus far. I have copies of the service records available. 2008 jetta door lock failures: date ro # item responsible partycost 11/16/09 116190drivers side front door lock replaced warranty 03/02/10 118212left rear door lock replaced warranty 08/03/10 121525right rear door lock diagnosed warranty 08/06/10 121609right…
Also reported on the 2008 Volkswagen Jetta
Other powertrain problem
Other body or interior problem
Other brake problem
Other engine problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Fuel pump failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 24 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 electrical problem happen on the 2008 Volkswagen Jetta?
Across 19 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 90,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other electrical problem on the 2008 Volkswagen Jetta?
24 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.8 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