Other suspension problem on the 2012 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.
When other suspension problem gets reported
There are 7 reports of other suspension problem on the 2012 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 100,000 miles. It is the 24th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 20,000 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 $350–$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 11 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2006, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2011 at 135,000 miles.
By volume the 2015 carries the most reports, with 10; the 2012 has 7. 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.
After a new issue happened again in the same general area of the issue with my car that had been happening pretty much since purchasing the car. The noise that has been occurring now at this point, is still the same rumbling, throbbing noise (similar to a bearing going out or bad), but now is causing more and more issues such as the rattling noises coming from the engine through the A/C exhaust, which happens hear and there something I tell the dealership, but yet they tell me that can't do anything even I showed them the video. Well now I bring in my car to the vw dealership on another issue that had started happening on the same side as the original noise that has been progressively getting worse and seems to be affecting and causing new issues. This new issues occurs when reversing my car out without using brakes just my clutch, I turn my wheel all the way to the right and reverse out, to hear a wooooo noise they is loud and not normal, but yet here comes vw to tell me they could not repeat the issue, even though once again I had video as well as audio evidence of it, they would not help me. My miles are now higher and it…
There is a serious design flaw in the rear axle of this vehicle whereby road debris can strike the axle causing it to bend. I think the design flaw is two-fold. 1. The axle is placed in such a manner that it is totally unprotected from road debris. 2. The metal of the axle and trailing arms is not hardened to a strong enough degree to withstand debris strikes and subsequent stress. Driving at highway speeds, I ran over a 4-6" piece of two by four or possibly angle iron (not sure which). The object was kicked up by the front cowling. The object made multiple impact strikes under the car from front to back as evidenced by the markings left on the aluminum covered insulation that covers the undercarriage, ultimately striking the rear axle, causing it to bend. The bend in the axle is front-to-back. This is not from backing over any object (see campaign 14v656000). This is a serious design flaw and a serious safety issue. The rear axle and trailing arms are exposed to road debris and not of sufficient strength to withstand impact and subsequent stress on trailing arms. A thin piece of sheet metal is not sufficient to remedy this issue…
Both front could springs broke at 45000 miles. No recall but clearly others have the same issue. Cost to replace was just under $500 as the struts were compromised when springs broke. There was not indication of when they broke and we were lucky our mechanic caught this malfunction before it caused more damage.
Also reported on the 2012 Volkswagen Jetta
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Fuel pump failure
Ignition switch, key fob or immobilizer failure
Other powertrain problem
Other fuel system problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 7 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 7 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 suspension problem happen on the 2012 Volkswagen Jetta?
Across 5 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 20,000 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 suspension problem on the 2012 Volkswagen Jetta?
7 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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