The defect
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. (Volkswagen) is recalling certain model year 2011-2013 Jetta vehicles manufactured March 1, 2010, to November 30, 2012, and 2012-2013 Beetle vehicles manufactured March 1, 2011, to July 31, 2013. The durability of the rear trailing arms may be reduced in vehicles whose rear trailing arms have been previously deformed, such as a result of a rear or side-rear impact crash.
The risk
The reduced durability of the trailing arm may result in its sudden fracture, possibly causing loss of vehicle control and increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will install a sheet metal inlay on the rear axle trailing arms designed to prevent a sudden loss of control in the event of trailing arm sudden fracture, free of charge. The recall began April 7, 2015. Owners may contact Volkswagen customer service at 1-800-893-5298.
NHTSA's own wording · initiated by MFR
Vehicles covered
| Model | Model years |
|---|---|
| Volkswagen Beetle | 2012, 2013 |
| Volkswagen Jetta | 2011, 2012, 2013 |
Components: SUSPENSION:REAR
Model years in this recall
NHTSA complaints and the number of recall campaigns for each model year this recall covers.
| Model | Year | Complaints | Recalls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volkswagen Beetle | 2012 | 65 | 6 |
| Volkswagen Beetle | 2013 | 93 | 6 |
| Volkswagen Jetta | 2011 | 607 | 7 |
| Volkswagen Jetta | 2012 | 500 | 5 |
| Volkswagen Jetta | 2013 | 518 | 4 |
Other suspension recalls in 2014
53 of the 770 recall campaigns reported to NHTSA in 2014 concerned the suspension; Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. filed 321 campaigns in all.
| 14V826000 30 Dec 2014 | Dodgen Industries, Inc. |
| 14V824000 29 Dec 2014 | Porsche Cars North America, Inc. |
| 14V816000 23 Dec 2014 | Porsche Cars North America, Inc. |
| 14V793000 16 Dec 2014 | Terex Advance |
| 14V786000 10 Dec 2014 | Ameritrans Bus, Inc. |
| 14V781000 8 Dec 2014 | Halcore Group, Inc. |
| 14V732000 13 Nov 2014 | Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing |
| 14V724000 12 Nov 2014 | Innovative Trailer Design Industries |
NHTSA recalls (public domain) · all recalls of 2014